The Prison Stripes Dress

Do you ever start sewing with one look in mind, and end up with something completely different? Like a project that just keeps evolving, and you just sort of roll with it and hope it turns out decent?

That was this dress. I actually intended to make this long, flowy,  maxi shirt-dress, but I don’t know what happened. Yes I do, this seer sucker was 60% off. I still wanted to make it maxi, not really thinking things through, and when I finished I took one peek in the mirror and just laughed. Think…Little House on the Prairie. So it sat overnight and I thought about how in the world I could salvage the train wreck.  I eventually realized that it had the potential of looking like a dress that my friend wore a few months ago that I had really liked. I remembered it because when I complimented her on it she said that it was her mother-in-law’s from Russia, and that although she liked it, she had always felt like it looked like a prison uniform. So the next night I took it the skirt all apart, reconfigured those blasted pockets (so suckers would NOT lie flat), and re-imagined the whole dress. At one point I asked Allan what he thought and when he said it looked like a prison uniform, I knew I was headed in the right direction. Thankfully, I like the way it turned out. And I can still make that flowy maxi sometime…I’m thinking when the gauze goes on sale.

Check out these sweet Joan & David handmade Italian shoes I thrifted a while back…kinda tight, but so worth it. 

And I recently rescued this necklace from someone’s DI-giveaway pile. What a save, right?! It’s so art-deco.