Sunshine and Summery Stripes

If you remember my recent post about taking inspiration from children's clothing, I went ahead and did just that and "copied" this simple piece from this girls dress from Janie and Jack. Of course, I made a few changes to make this more wearable for me (I think I look terrible in halters...), but the idea is still there!

This dress took a long while to make (I finished it last November!) since I wanted to start other projects and because I was moving places last year. Moreover, summer was basically ending and in my mind, I saw this as a summer dress and the colors seemed too out of place for fall and winter time. Needless to say, this often got put on the back burner.

Bodice: Butterick 4443

Skirt: Butterick 5285 (out of print)

The top is a white linen blend that I got from Joanns and the skirt is a yellow gold striped cotton that I got from the Fabric Place Basement. In real life, the color looks more like what's shown in the photo below. I don't particularly pay attention to certain "fabric brands", but I do remember that the striped one is by Michael Miller (I like a lot of his novelty prints!).

I had some trouble trying to figure out what type of fabric I wanted for the white portions of the dress... Joanns (at least the one near me) does not seem to have a great selection of cotton solids that aren't super stiff. I opted for white linen since it at least was soft and had nice movement, though I really would have preferred a flat white cotton...

I added a collar to the bodice using the same linen fabric. Unlike the original, I sewed the skirt directly to the waistband without the top of the skirt peeking out from behind the band. Am I the only one who does not really like the look with the tops of skirts at the waistline? Does this style have a name? I also opted out of the navy waistband since I normally wear belts with my dresses anyway and could just put on a navy belt...

On another note, I've been traveling a lot for work the last five months and have been rather busy. However, I finally got to taking photos for lots of stuff this past weekend, so I hope to actually get something up here once in a while! I also hope to be home for good within the next month or so... Of course, I've said I'd be home in April, then May, then June, then July... so who knows when I'll go home! At least I'm racking up a lot of miles and points!