Handmade wardrobe // thirty three

dress pattern: McCalls 8036

mask pattern: by Craft Passion

fabric: scribble dot by Erin Kendal on silky faille from Spoonflower

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Today’s my birthday, and obviously, it looks a little different this year. Some birthday stand out more than others, year to year. For example - I’ll always remember my 30th birthday because we got to spend it in Maui. And now I’m sure I’ll always remember my 33rd as the one where we had to stay home all the time and where face masks to go outside at all. But I was still determined to make myself a pretty dress and take pictures in front of this mural. So I whipped up a face mask to match and off we went.

I’ve been dreaming of a white with black dot wrap dress for awhile now, but I was pretty determined to find a specific dot print. I wanted black dots on white, but not white white. I wanted off-white/ivory/cream. And I wanted tiny dots, not big polka dots. And I wanted them to be scattered, and slightly farther a part, not uniform and close together. I told you - specific. And I was having trouble finding exactly what I wanted. I'd fond a fabric that was the right color and dot size, but uniform and close together. Or I would find one that actually had everything I wanted, but it was in a sheer chiffon, which I didn’t want. So I turned to Spoonflower, because you can find anything on Spoonflower. It’s not the most exciting print to have custom printed on fabric, but it’s finally what I wanted! I went with the silky faille, because I’ve worked in that substrate twice before and I was familiar with it and it was close to the weight I wanted (although I almost went with double gauze!).

I decided to go with McCall’s Sasha dress for the pattern, and went with the shorter, ruffled hem view. I didn’t alter anything, so this is pattern as-is. I only have two complaints: 1. it is shoooort. Or atleast for me. Maybe I’m just not used to wearing this length. But where it wraps in the front does make me feel like the slightest breeze will cause a wardrobe malfunction. and 2. I don’t think I love the shoulder pleats on the front bodice. I think I would definitely prefer for it to be laying flat there. Especially with the poof in the sleeves, the extra poof at the front feels a tad excessive. But I l do ove the big poofy sleeves! And all the ruffles! And overall its a very wearable and cute dress and turned out really well!