When I shared this inspiration photo from Pinterest on my instagram account, lots of people commented that they had the exact same pin saved on their board, but the funny thing is that it was one of those recommended pins they stick on your page that doesn’t come from anyone that you actually follow.
This is a pin I had saved even earlier of a similarly designed dress:
For some reason Pinterest was peddling this dress hardcore to it’s users who found inspiration in light and airy women’s garments, but I couldn’t blame them. Look at this thing! The design of the dress itself is pretty plain- just a sleeveless fitted short bodice with a gathered skirt attached- but the brilliant use of the stripes added so much dimension and visual interest to the garment that it was hard to ignore. I love it when simple designs are paired with dynamic prints- it makes it look like much more work went into it than it did. Although I was reminded in the making of my own replica of this dress that matching stripes, though not as intense as matching plaid, does indeed require a considerable amount of work and attention, attention that I was unfortunately lacking at the time, but more on that later.
I saw this striped linen at The Fabric Store in LA several months ago and grabbed the bolt straight away- sometimes stripes can look kind of boring to me, so this print with it’s different sizes of stripes was much more my speed, plus the color combination was so killer! Those washed-out subtle hues with just a pop of color in that lime green really spoke to me- they instantly reminded me of summer, and I knew right away that I wanted to try and emulate one of these pinterest pins that I had saved on my board so long ago. I did not have a pattern in mind for this design, but I didn’t feel too worried about that. I figured it wouldn’t be too much trouble to draft/hack something I had in my pattern arsenal already- again, nothing was particularly dynamic about the garment- so as long as I had a comparable bodice piece somewhere, I could stick a gathered skirt and panel piece to the bottom and call it a day. But after I shared that instagram post with the inspiration dress, I got a couple suggestions for McCalls 7774 (thanks, Carlos!), which turned out to be the spitting image of the pinterest dress, meaning much less work for me!
This was an incredibly easy and quick dress to put together except for matching the stripes, and my biggest mistake was starting this dress when I had a friend over who was working on her own project. I get side tracked too easily when talking and laughing and having fun and I should have known better than to start this dress, which required quite a bit more attention than a non-directional fabric would have. Ah well, you live and you learn! I did a decent job matching up the stripes for the front bodice, which I cut out into two pieces instead of on the fold to accommodate the V, but I didn’t even consider paying extra attention to the darts on the bodice so that they would line up perfectly on either side, and as a result…they don’t! Ha! But it actually took me a couple wears to even notice that, so it must not be too obvious (and if it is, I don’t care, cause I love this dress, warts and all). Noted, diagonal bodice with darts, noted.
The only structural changes I made to the pattern pieces were to add an extra tiny dart at the bust since the armholes were gaping out just a tiny bit and to take out about 1/2″ of vertical ease in the front and back bodice pieces, since Big 4’s bodices tend to be pretty large on me. The fit is terrific now, and I love that it looks fitted onto my torso but feels very loose and relaxed- this comes from having a waistband that is a couple inches higher than my waist, so it doesn’t cut into my stomach, and I use the adjustments for that Vogue culottes pattern I make all the time- I shortened the bodice so that it rises higher on my abdomen. The armholes are wide but not so much that my bra peaks out and it gives me a lot of range of movement. The bodice is fully lined but not with self fabric (I used a solid colored linen fabric on the inside that was covered in dye spots after I washed it with another cut of fabric- DON’T YOU JUST HATE WHEN THAT HAPPENS?!) and it closes in the back with a zipper, which is where my stripes look less impressive than in the front. I took that zipper out like 4 times to try and get it perfectly lined up, but in the end I lost steam and decided it was close enough.
This pattern was actually a little disappointing in that it shows a dress on the envelope package with the same design as my pinterest pin (diagonal stripes in the bodice, vertical stripes in the skirt and horizontal stripes in the panel of fabric at the very bottom) yet it doesn’t include specific instructions for creating that exact dress. For example, the bodice has two grainlines you can follow, either the one that is straight across or the one on the bias, which you would use for the diagonal look. But in the instructions there was no reminder to not cut on the fold or to add seam allowance if you were creating the latter garment. In my hanging-out-with-a-friend-haze, I recognized this on some level and made sure to cut my bodice pieces out properly, but I didn’t pay attention to the bottom panel piece with the stripes that run horizontally. The pattern piece has you lay it out and cut it on the fold, meaning that the print will run in the same direction as the skirt piece, but that is not what I wanted- I wanted the stripes on my bottom panel piece to run crosswise, opposite the stripes of the skirt of the dress. Of course, by the time I realized this, it was too late- my panel pieces were already cut the wrong way! I was so frustrated with myself. That horizontal panel at the bottom just MADE the whole dress for me, and of course I didn’t have extra fabric to work with because I generally get the bare minimum of yardage so that very little goes to waste! Sigh.
To remedy this issue, I had to piece together cuts of fabric running horizontally, which means that the panel doesn’t have the same run of stripes all the way around the dress. But I managed to get the front panel pieces running in the same direction at center front, which keeps it looking generally cohesive from head on. I have gotten tons of compliments on this dress so it doesn’t look like my not-quite-perfectly lines up bodice diagonals or bottom panel stripes are taking anything away from the general look of this dress.
I have worn this dress SO much this summer! It is so easy to throw on because it’s made of linen and therefore it’s comfortable to wear during our awfully dry southern california heat, but it also looks really stylish because of the gorgeous color combination of the stripes and the three different ways the stripes are put together: STRIPE PLAY!
I have been playing around a lot with stripes lately, which has made me appreciate this classic print in new ways! A couple months after making this awesome dress I saw that Blackbird Fabrics was carrying this really pretty striped linen that I immediately wanted to make up into another, more casual Kalle shirtdress (my first Kalle shirtdress is in silk, which I love, but is definitely more dressed up than casual), and it also came out pretty great.
I cut out one front with the stripes traveling on one grainline and the other front on the opposite grainline, then I cut the back and back yoke out on the same grainline as the left front, then I cut one pocket to match the front it’s attached to and the other pocket on the diagonal. There was no method to my stripe direction madness, I just went with my instinct, and I absolutely love how it turned out. Such a simple dress and a simple fabric made more dynamic by playing around with the layout. At this point I don’t know if I am ever going to be able to cut out stripes all in one direction again!
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