Hawaiian Punch: Simplicity 1873

Hey guys!!! Like my new glasses? They came in the mail today and I feel like a cool girl in them. Just in time too, now that we’re in the heart of the allergy season I can’t really wear my contacts as much, so it was time to update. Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way let’s talk about this dress. I’m in mayjuhh like with it.

I’ve been thinking about what makes something “me” and makes me want to pull it out of the closet over and over again. My favorite me-make by far is my Bow Dress. The reason why it works IMO is because it’s a basic fit-and-flare shape (my favorite silhouette) paired with a fun print that I love. I bought 3 yards of this “Tales of the South Pacific” cotton batiste from Gorgeous Fabrics for super cheap ($5.80 a yard) and I still have almost a full yard left over.

This pattern was very easy to make. I made view C, but omitted the button tabs. It’s a simple 2 dart scoop neck bodice paired with a very *full* skirt. Before I started making the pleats, I had about 8 feet of skirt to shrink down to 29 inches. I really like the instructions Simplicity gives you for the construction. For instance, they have you attach the bodice and lining using this technique, I first learned from the Slapdash Sewist. It seems to be that Simplicity is figuring out that home sewists don’t want to hand sew unless absolutely necessary.

This dress was well drafted and came together quickly once I got started. I made a size 10 to eliminate ease, but had to use the dart placement for the size 12 to accomodate my girls. Speaking of my girls, did ya’ll notice the unfortunate print placement on my bust? Michael Kors would eat me alive, a circle over each bewb. Oops… I lined the bodice with some unbleached cotton muslin, and also underlined the skirt with muslin since this fabric was quite sheer. I finished the hem with a machine blind hem and inserted an invisible zipper

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