Aug 4

Aug 4 Victory Patterns Chloe Dress (Round 2)

I've been meaning to make another Victory Patterns Chloe Dress for a while [first one blogged here]. And well looky here, I finally did.

I love how this turned out, the color, the flat piping, the buttons, everything. I was worried about giving off a baton twirler vibe when I first considered the buttons, but I think I was just being paranoid.

[And oh hey, just a warning, Hootie felt the need to get really involved in these pictures.]

The fabric I used was Carolyn Friedlander Botanics. It's this great mustard color with gold metallic details. I love the color and print, but since it's a quilting cotton it shows every little wrinkle and pull line when I move around. I actually don't notice it in real life but when I was editing these pictures all I can see are wrinkles. Oh well.

So funny story - I made this dress for a wedding, and I originally put in both pocket bags on the front. I used the quilting cotton, which was my first mistake, because it was way too bulky. I thought it looked mostly ok, but then the day of the wedding I decided that there was way too much bulk in there and it was unflattering and I would be self conscious and sad and schlumpy.

So I went to a CVS, got one of those little mending kits and hand stitched those suckers shut 15 minutes before I had to be ready. Then I hacked them off.

It was terrifying and exhilarating.

So those pockets have been downgraded to faux.

Hootie and I are emoting so much, can you feel it?

And now for some pictures of the inside, because look how pretty!

One of my favorite parts about this dress is the lining. I love using pretty/crazy linings if I can because they make me feel extra happy while I'm getting dressed. This one is London Calling lawn from Robert Kaufman that I had left over from when I made an Emery Dress for Elisabeth. I just think it looks so good with the white binding and the gold shell. The only part that makes me sad is that no one sees it while I'm wearing it.

I handstitched the binding on the inside, so it looks the same from both sides. As I was taking these pictures I realized that this almost looks like a reversible dress.

Hey wait a minute...could this be a reversible dress? It's fully lined, after all.

*Awkwardly struggles to zip self into dress with backwards zipper*

OH MY GOSH THIS COULD TOTALLY BE A REVERSIBLE DRESS!!!

All you would have to do to make this reversible is use a reversible zipper and make the hem even on the bottom [or be ok with one side peeking out.] WHICH I FULLY PLAN ON DOING.