Folk Dress Mash Up - Newlook 6390 & Style 1993

Wanna see something ridiculously unseasonable?

Well here's the folksy dress I made during the heatwave we were having a few months ago. [At this point in time the summer of 2018 is already feeling like one of those things I'm gonna be banging on about until I'm 98, "Oh come here and sit on Nanas knee and let her tell you all about the summer of 2018 where she didn't wear tights for months and dried all her washing on the line.........."] 

So it was a bit of a mash up. The bodice is New look 6390, which I've made approximately 3 million times. The only thing I changed about it was swapping out the straps for tie straps.These are basically two long rectangles per shoulder and then you can tie then as tight or as loose as you want.

 

And the bottom of the dress is Style 1993 which is a vintage pattern that I got at the carboot when I brought a job lot of patterns.

 

Technically you don't need a pattern for the skirt because its basically 3 gathered rectangles. With the top rectangle being the smallest and them gradually getting bigger. 

If I were to make it again I would shorten each rectangle by a couple of inches as the dress ended up being quite long. 

The trims were the main inspiration for the dress. They are beautiful embroidered ribbons in a folksy style that I was given by a lady at the carboot. I've been hoarding them for ages trying to think of a cool way to use them.

I applied each of the trims using a straight stitch BUT I did spend a LOOOONNNNGGG time measuring and marking where they were going to make sure that 1. they didn't get eaten up by seam allowances and 2. That they were level and would match up at the back seams. 

Annoyingly I didn't have quite enough of the embroidered ribbons and the skirt was looking quite right so I used some black ribbon and some blue lacey ribbon as trim as well. 

The dress closes with a lapped zip. Its not my best ever and the top is out by about a centimetre but most of the trims line up and I couldn't really be bothered to unpick the whole thing just to make the back level so I'm leaving it. Realistically If I were a perfectionist I'd change it so it was level but its not something I'm going to see and its a dress that's only suitable for about two months of the year soooo.................. 

The main fabric is a cotton that I got from the abakhan fill a bag sale. It behaved really nicely and luckily I had enough for the whole dress to be in the same fabric including the lining. I had about 2 1/2 metres maybe three and I though I might have left overs but the skirt was really fabric hungry. 

All in all I really love how the dress turned out. Especially seen as this is a dress I just couldn't get out of my head!!! 

But if I were to make it again [Which I probably will if I can find some more embroidered ribbons] then there are a few changes I'd make. 

- Stitch the trims on a bit neater. A few of them are really neat but they took agggeeesss and I'll be the first to admit that I got a bit sloppy and started rushing towards the end. 

- Shorten the skirt pieces as I think their a bit long.

- Extend the bottom two tiers of the skirt to make them more gathered for more impact!!! 

So yeah all in all I'm really pleased with how the dress turned out. I am a bit gutted though because LOL not really the weather to wear it anymore is it? I guess its good because I have something nice to wear next summer! 

In other news!!! 

-Lil man is over his sick bug! [thank god!]

- I seem to have settled into a pretty good rhythm with regards to blogging, school stuff, housework and sewing. Its taken since September but I'm finally there and have achieved balance. Now I just have to hope that I don't loose it all when lil man breaks up for half term! 

and I think that's about it!

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxx

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