A Warm Weather Dress

I finished McCall's 5466 over a month and a half ago. Originally, I was planning to wear it with a sash made of the same fabric as the dress -- a cotton poplin. And then, after I made the sash, I discovered that I didn't like the way the sash looked. Kind of bulky, even though the fabric is thin. So I decided to buy a patent belt to wear with the dress. Patent, because the belt would then match my shoes. But I could not find the belt I wanted locally. So I went online to beltplanet. The belt is a bit wider than I'd really choose, but it serves the bill, and the price is right.

The belt took almost two weeks to get here. Then, the days started getting cooler, here where I live in Pennsylvania, so the short sleeved, exposed neckline was not going to cut it any more. So, I resigned myself to not wearing this dress until the spring, or until the weather got warmer.

Well, as you can see, it was warm here this morning, and here I am in my new dress.



I kind of like the way this dress channels Donna Reed, in a way. I don't think I've ever worn anything quite like this before.

There are a few things I did a bit differently in making this dress. First, I added sleeve heads. More of a tailoring technique, but they gave the structure I wanted to the shoulder line. Second, I lined the skirt to the edge using cotton batiste. Solved the problem of 'flimsy skirt' and negated the need for a slip.

This dress was perfect for today, a workday where I had no 'power meetings'. And I am happy that I did not have to wait for next spring to wear it!