2016 Summer Frock Parade – Minty Fresh!

Some months ago I pinned this vintage dress to my “Sewing Ideas” board:

And I fell completely in love with it! A big part is the striped fabric, which I didn’t have, oh well. But I did my best with a solid mint stretch cotton poplin and it’s still become one of my favourite dresses!

I used vintage Simplicity 5059 from my stash for this, just modifying the neckline a little to add the tie collar and skipping the sleeves, obvs:

And here’s how it came out, I’m so happy with it and it’s really very comfy!

You also get to see a little of our wee backyard/garden – at least how it looked at the end of May, when these were taken (I’m less than 2 months behind on posting this, woot!)

So, a kinda funny thing happened with my summer sewing this year. I’ve ended up sewing a mostly pretty specific palette of mint/pale aqua and coral. I don’t know what it is, but I’m just all about those colours this year – individually, each with white/ivory, or best yet, together! So this dress is part of that. I’ve now made an additional 3 or 4 dresses that’s some combination of this theme and have plans for at least a couple more. Fortunately, I’m already good to go with matching/co-ordinating shoes for this, lol.

There’s not a whole heck of a lot to say about this one construction-wise. Probably the most interesting bit is the closure, which is actually up the front. I may have mentioned this before, but I HATE side zippers and avoid them whenever possible.

And whoever first designed/drafted this pattern must have had some psychic link to me in the future because it’s designed to open down the front even though it only buttons down to the waist.

Below the waist is just a slit in the centre front of the skirt. It’s kept from showing by the little bit of overlap created for the button-front bodice. I love that so much! So easy-peasy but also so effective. I’ve now worn this dress several times and never once had a gaping problem with it.

Oh, and in the blue planter behind the steps are the morning glories just starting to come up – you should see them now! They’re all the way to the top of the cage-thingy and have moved over to start twining around the stair rail.

Obligatory back shot

Oh, and just in case anyone might be wondering, my super-cute shoes came from here, though it doesn’t look like they have the mint ones anymore.

A few interior shots showing my current go-to cotton voile bodice lining:

Although I didn’t get a photo of me, this was the dress’s first outing – Sunday brunch at the DC Army & Navy Club, pretty apropos, eh?

(hello Andrew!)

I do now have some (pepper)mint and white striped fabric, a mini stripe in stretch cotton seersucker that I’m feeling a little tempted to make another, slightly-closer-to-the-original version of. But maybe not this year, time to move on to another style/colour!