Stripes!

I have a sewing/fashion design project to share today!

It's a striped dress.  I had seen a few striped dresses around on others, or in stores.  Usually they didn't have sleeves or enough sleeve though so when I saw this fabric browsing a quilting shop I knew right then and there that it was going to go home with me and be turned into this dress.  

The fabric is Riley Blake quilting cotton.  I got it in the "Chevron" collection area.

In all honesty, quilting cotton is not my favorite thing to use for clothing.

It wrinkles when you wash it and never fully presses back to being crisp like when you buy it.

You know what though!  I washed this fabric before sewing with it to see what it would look like when I need to wash it.  The bright white and grey keep the look crisp!  No it doesn't look the exact same as before you wash it, but after a press with my iron, I went ahead and made the dress.

It actually doesn't wrinkle as bad as I thought it would when I sit down, or use my seat belt.  Win for the quilting cotton!

I lined the dress in a plain white cotton I got at JoAnn's.  I am sooooo happy I took the time to line this dress.

One of my favorite features is that this dress has pockets!

A girls dress should have pockets you know?  You didn't know?  Well, now you do :).

A big BIG thank you to my sister-in-law!  Her business name is Becky Ann Photography (click on her business name to see her website) and she is the one who took pictures for me for this post.  She is a fabulous photographer who does an amazing job.

This dress is great for spring/summer weather.  Where I am today went from a snow storm to sunshine in a few hours!  It gives me spring fever and makes me all excited to start flower seeds!  However, we still have a few more weeks of temperamental weather and it's not impossible to hear of snow in June where I am from.  

Which brings me to how I plan to wear this until the weather warms up for good.  That is with a fun statement necklace, navy blue cardigan, a belt, and a pair of boots.

I got these riding boots from ebay of all places! I wear a size 5 shoe and for some reason it's hard for me to find.  So I occasionally take to ebay to see what I can find and I have had good luck finding deals on brand new size 5 shoes actually!

Along with the pockets I really like the sides of this dress.  Like I said I took inspiration from other striped dresses I have seen and one detail I have really enjoyed is the shaping on the sides of the bodice are princess seams and cut on the diagonal.  I love it!

The tulip sleeves are really fun too.  Though to be completely honest they were a big pain to design!  Worth it in the end though.

I always feel so self conscious when I make things for myself.  I am just not a perfectionist with items for myself.

I should have been more precise with my invisible zipper, I wasn't so you can see it peek through a bit.  Which kind of defeats the purpose of an "invisible zipper".

Honestly it didn't bother me enough to want to fix it before starting to wear it.  I may go back and fix it later.  I may not.  If I made this for someone else, I'd have done it right.  Since it's for me, I just enjoy wearing it as soon as I can :).

The wonderful thing about these stripes are that I lined them all up where they needed to be.  The fabric was printed straight (THANK YOU RILEY BLAKE!) making it easy.  It has gotten me wondering what other cute quilting cotton prints could be found to made into fabulous little dresses.

What do you think?  Are you a fan of stripes?  Until later!

-Em

Update: Just wanted to let you know I have linked up to share my dress with Ashley and her readers at make it-loveit!  Here is a link to see what other fun bloggers are sharing!  I love seeing different projects!

Just click on my link button below to visit Ashley's blog and see some other fun crafty projects!