Continuing the theme of posting this summer's makes, here's a revamped Lady Skater dress from Kitschy Coo.
Surrealist phone strikes again, this time accompanied by beauty products!
I actually made this dress last spring, but never wore it, so I reworked it this summer to get some use out of it. It's a ponte knit from Fabric.com in a pretty silvery-gray. It recovers pretty well, though I think it may have some trouble with pilling later on, as the other ponte I ordered and make into a skirt has a bit of pilling cropping up. The new lace bits are a cream stretch lace from the Hancock Fabrics remnant table. God, do I love that remnant table. It's been particularly full of soft knits and laces lately. So tempting.
The original version was cut to a size 4, although I think next time I make this I'll go down to a 3, at least on the waistline. The original version also had 3/4 sleeves and the slightly dropped waistline in the pattern. The 3/4 sleeves were a little too big and hit at exactly the place that 3/4 sleeves are uncomfortable (the elbow -- 3/4 sleeves should be above or below to be comfy on me) and while the dropped waistline was pretty flattering, especially as I have a short waist and high hips, it felt dowdy and unfashionable. It was all in that gray as well, which meant I felt like a dowdy elephant wearing it. A shame, too, since it was actually warm enough for a Minnesota winter.
So, I fixed it. I raised the waist to my natural one, which meant another inch or so was taken off and about another inch taken in. (In the first picture it looks like the waistline is still dropped, but that's the line from my tights. Fleece-lined tights rule.) This raised the hem too, but since that was bit long on the original, it was an improvement. It's just barely above knee-length now. I also cut off the sleeves and hemmed them.
Action shot!
Next step was to cut off a long strip of the cream lace and add it an inch above the hemline. The edges are just turned down and topstitched with a zig-zag stitch. I've also been loving all the shoulder details that are in style right now, so I marked off an area on each shoulder and did more or less the same process to create the lace shoulders. It's not the neatest way of doing it, but it works and most people don't notice.
It's much more wearable now than before -- I've been waiting to break it out for fall weather, which officially hit this past week. Brrr, Minnesotan winds are brutal. I feel so cute wearing it, and it might even be appropriate for future employment if the office is more casual. I got a lot of "why are you so dressed up?" comments in class yesterday, which are always nice. The dress code around campus is of the sweatshirt, black leggings, brown boots, and hair-in-a-bun type, which makes wearing a dress, heels, and blazer a bit unusual.
Still working on other projects, which I'm going to make E., the roommate, photograph. That, or get a more interesting phone case.
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