Vintage Summer

Now for the last of my stashbusting projects! For now, anyway... *wink*

I had 4 yards of red-and-white striped seersucker in my stash (part of a $5 bag of fabric I found at a yard sale). I love seersucker, but I was quite at a loss to figure out how to use this piece -- until I remembered Butterick 4443! I've used this pattern once before, and was very happy with it -- the fit is just about perfect (still have to work on some neckline gaping, but it's not bad).

Usually I can't handle princess seamed dresses (in fact, most dresses don't look good on me!), but the defined waistline on this dress helps a lot! I made a little jacket from Simplicity 4334, and also bound the neckline, armhole, and hem with red bias. One of my favorite things about this dress is the scalloped hem -- it was relatively easy to figure out, and I love the look!

By far the most complicated aspect of the outfit was the belt. I also had a "cover-it-yourself" vintage belt buckle in my stash, which came in so handy for this project! It took a bit of finagling, but it did work. I top-stitched the belt because... well, just because!

I can't recommend this dress enough -- it's so easy to put together, and it takes very little fabric! I do lengthen the pattern about 4 inches, just so it's more comfortable.

I love the slightly vintage feel of this outfit -- I think I'm going to get my money's worth out of this one! I still have about a yard of the seersucker left, so it might be showing up as an apron one of these days!