Pansy Print Shift Dess

I'm actually dreading putting these pictures up, mainly because I was too lazy to do my hair [Which seriously needs cutting] or retouch my make up or put on lipstick so I know for a fact I look ill, which means my mother will probably see the pictures and decide I am ill and need to rest more....and she'll probably want to feed me broth... which isn't always a bad thing.

Put yes I'm not sick , I just always look this unhealthy!

Now onto the dress, I won the pansy fabric over at a stitching odyssey in a give-away Marie was running and I believe she got it from Miss Gingers. I got 1m of the print  in cotton and although its a lil crazy I kinda love it, my mum suggested I make a skirt but I loved the idea of a 90's style shift dress, something I could dress up with heels or down with boots and a cardi. Being stubborn I went my own way however I didn't have quite enough material hence the colour blocking.

The pink sections came from an old dress lining, its a similar weight to the pansy print and the colours work well together so its a winner for me. The bodice is a princess seam so having both the front and back in pink and the sides in pansy looks pretty cool...to me at least!

Pattern wise I kept it simple and used the shift dress pattern from the second gbsb book. There's really nothing else I can say about the pattern as I've made it here and here and used the bodice here . I did shorten the skirt on this one quite a bit more though to keep a young vibe. The best way I find to shorten dresses that I want right on the cusp of decency is to lay them next to a rtw dress your happy with the length of and work off that as a guide. No more flashing my knickers for me!

Construction wise I just finished my seams with another row of stitching and I faced the armholes and neckline with the pansy print fabric. And then very neatly topstitched. Like a Boss! The hem is hand sewn because eek hand finished hems and basically looks like it was done by faeries! 

I did a lapped zip at the back, its not my neatest work but I'd already ripped it out once and I wasn't in the mood for another go. Luckily for me my hair is that long now that it covers any zip issues!

Heres a better shot of my colour blocking, As you can see I didn't bother pattern matching but now i look at it, I might have used the print the wrong way up. woopsie.

It didn't take a huge amount of time to make, I think about two episodes of the sopranos and half an episode to stitch the hem? In fact the longest part was trying to work out if I actually had enough material. 

And that's it! Yay!

Its a half recycled, half free, kinda crazy shift dress but I love it! Its completely out of my comfort zone but I can still see it getting a lot of wear!

Much Love

Frankie 

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