After epic Toasty-Zipper fail, we have dress!
In case you (somehow) haven’t seen this pattern before it is Sewaholic’s Lonsdale. It’s another pattern I’ve wanted to make for ages and it just sort of worked out that it was the only dress I thought would really work for orange bicycle fabric.
You might remember a few months ago when I was coveting an white, strapless, bicycle-covered Anthropologie dress. I was on a mission to find the perfect fabric to recreate the dress. I even found the perfect colors in Micheal Millers On the Go fabric in aqua. Could I find it locally?* No. Of course I couldn’t. Oh, I could find that colorway in flannel and I could find every other version of that print (on sale no less) but the aqua was no where to be found.
Until, of course, I broke down and bought the orange. Then I saw it everywhere. Plus even more, cuter bicycle prints. Gobs of them. Ones that I really, really like but I cannot justify a wardrobe filled with children’s novelty prints. (O.K. maybe I can, just not all bicycles).
I also feel that orange didn’t fit the shape of the original inspiration. I have very specific and probably weird ideas about what colors belong in which projects. Orange just didn’t feel like a strapless dress color. It could be a dress, just not a strapless one, my mind tells me. Really, this became a Lonsdale because it was the next dress in the queue I didn’t already have fabric for.
Most everything after that was straight forward (except for my zipper fiasco that I mentioned in the last post). I tweaked lining insertion method a little bit so that the edges were flipped under and hand slipstitched down. In proper fashion, I forgot to take a picture but I think it looks much neater. I also went for the invisible zipper, though I now understand why it calls for a conventional zip. The waistband is interfaced on both sides and it creates a bit of bulk that’s a little difficult to pull the zipper past. It’s doable, but a little fiddly. Next time I think I would only interface one band or use a normal zipper.
And can we talk about piping? Piping is my new favorite thing. My Meringue was my first ever piping experience and I’ve been looking for places to use it ever since. I really think the contrasting waistband and matching piping really make this dress (not to mention make me feel all professional, using trims and whatnot).
All in all, I’m pretty happy! I have a dress with pockets, ergo all is right with the world.
*I have a Thing about getting fabric online. I fully understand that it is irrational and unfounded but I don’t like it. Also, I think fabric shopping is almost as fun as the sewing.
I’ve just seen this on the Flickr stream and it made me catch my breath – I love the contrasting waistband and the piping, well done!
I LOVE this! It’s so cute– great job, girl! Love the piping and the contrast waistband, and the color and print are both amazing! I have the same issue with the waistband and the invisible zip– it’s SO hard to pull the zipper up, and I’m constantly nervous that I’m going to rip out the zipper. :/
Oh wow… this is soooo cool. And I loooove the orange…my fave! The piping finishes it off beautifully. So cute. You did an amazing job.
LOVE!! The piping on the pockets is fantastic. It looks as if that pattern was made just for you
Haha, thanks! The nice thing is that this pattern is that other than the waist nothing really has to fit spot on for it to look good since the skirt is full and the knot on top can take up any extra slack in the top of the bodice. I didn’t fit a thing on it, actually, except for my usual size 8 top graded into a size 10 skirt. Easy peasy.
Wow, what a fantastic make! I love your fabric choice and the piping is genius!!!