Dude, I made this dress out of my friend’s old Ikea curtains. It is AWESOME.
Yeah, I’m keeping the vacuum in the frame. Deal with it.
A friend of mine parted ways with an old set of curtains, and was kind enough to think of me and my obsessive need for fabric. The burgundy texture is flocked, and the contrast solid was, um, liberated from a failed cardigan project. The print was a bitch and a half to line up perfectly, and it turned out to be all for naught. The dress as cut ended up being a size and a half too small for me on the bottom half. There was no way in hell I was going to recut the whole thing, so I solved the problem with oh-so-tiny seam allowances. It means my perfectly matched print is… not so perfectly matched. Oh well.
The pattern is McCalls 6278. I made a few changes — the itty bitty side seams being just one. I also chose to do a facing instead of lining the whole thing. (Why is there such a push away from facings and toward full linings? I don’t want to double my fabric costs! Besides, look at the seaming on this dress — no way I am a duplicating all this just for a seam-heavy, bulky lining that’s not visible. I am lazy. Cater to me, McCall’s, as I can’t be the only one.)
If I were to make this again, which I probably won’t just because it’s so distinctive, I would also take a bit out of the bodice top — it’s large and kind of gape-y, considering the bottom half ran pretty small. Still, I love this dress. So so much. And I don’t think I’ve ever gotten so many compliments on something I’ve sewn. Being shameless, I ate every single one up. I am working it in these curtains — just call me Scarlett O’Sara.