The happy little hippy dress

Let's just pretend were back in June, England's still got a chance in the world cup , love islands on and we are still having a glorious heatwave...

Working?

Nah? 

In which case let me introduce you to the dress I probably won't wear until next summer. 

Yep I made this during one of those good god its hot sort of days when everything in my wardrobe felt too warm or too constricting. 

The main idea of the dress was based around this panel print I got from the first fill a bag sale my local abakhans had. Originally I wanted to make a kimono dress but the pattern consisted of two large squares and some twiddy pattern bits and I just couldn't figure out the placement so I gave up and chucked the fabric in a pile. 

Naturally I didn't take a picture of the actual fabric because I'm a TERRIBLE blogger.

As it goes the print worked nicely for this dress , I used the two square pieces for the front and back of my skirt. I didn't even cut them on the fold I literally just cut around the square. And then used the extra twiddly bits on the straps , facings and bodice. 

The bodice itself is the Cami top from the gbsb (3rd) book. I cropped mine to hit my belly button and took some ease out of the back because of gaping. (I also used this pattern here and its one of my favourite party dresses)  and then added a simple gathered skirt.

The print isn't identical on the front and back of the bodice but I was working with fabric restrictions so it ended up being a bit of a hey ho moment. 

One issue I am having is that the skirt feels really long. I am trying to get on bored with longer skirts because in reality they are so much more practical. But every time I make something I'm still tempted the reach for the scissors and make it mid thigh length .

However I can't with this one because it will ruin the printed panel on the skirt.

And there are two more issues . 

1, the back is still gaping , I'm working on fixing this but I'm conscious that if I go too fitted I might no be able to pull it on over my head and one of the beauties of this dress is that theirs no fastenings (yes it makes it a really quick and satisfying sew)

2, its a about half a degree of being maternity wear. I could belt it but that sort of defeats the object of it being a really loose dress for hot days. On the plus side I can confirm that you can fit a large pizza under this dress and no one  will know. (Not a physical large pizza , you can eat one and no one will notice. I haven't tested if you can hide actual pizza down it )

Naturally I love it because it makes me feel like a happy little hippy who wants to dance around bare foot and preach love and peace. In fact as soon as I'd made it I played Fleetwood Mac and pretended to be Stevie Nick's for a bit. Not ashamed at all. 

All in all I think its really successful even if I won't get to wear it much now the winter nights are drawing in. 

In other news! 

I've still not been sewing, boooooooo. But I'm planning to crack right on when lil man goes back to school. I know traditionally I give the house a good clean on the first day. But screw that this time I'm sewing. 

I've added a few more hexagons to my EPP , its not growing very quickly but I enjoy the process. 

I had a day at the dog track!!!! And guess who won 3 times? ME! And guess who won 4? LIL MAN! And guess who didn't win at all??????? Rikki! much to my amusement and his disgust.

And I think that's all!

Much love

 Frankie