the stripe monster

i originally cut all the fabric out for this project before my acl reconstruction surgery (in december!  gasp, i know!) so that i could work on it while recuperating at the rents' house in ct.  i forgot what the pattern # is, but it's one of those simplicity, project runway, ones.  i essentially made the green version shown below:

this was the fabric i chose...  a shiny (not quite as shiny as satin) non-silk.  not sure what it is exactly.  in between the blue stripes are light lavender stripes.  i got it at g street fabrics, my fav store in the dc area.  LOTS of it.

this project was far from easy.  shiny = slippery like whoa.  the pattern was drastically altered: i raised the waistline, let out a lot at the waist, hemmed up the bottom by 3.5 inches.  even though i serged all the edges, i had to trim the seams at the sleeves because the arm hole was not that large (nor was it all that flexible!).  however, trimmed seams = fray monster, so i had to figure out a way to cover up the loose ends.  welcome, seam binding!  see the nice navy seam binding covering the seams on the right side and the fray monster on the left?  i had to hand-stitch those busters in.  tedious.

my sewing machine doesn't sew button holes well, so i had to bind the holes by hand.  my LEAST favorite activity ever, in all of sewing.  next time i get a sewing machine, it must be able to make buttonholes.  i made the cap sleeve version, seeing as this dress is quite bold.  man, imagine if i had long sleeves in more stripes!!!

you better believe i matched each of the 4 skirt panels perfectly in order to make nice chevron stripes!  life is better with chevron:

here's a view of the back.  check out those perfect v's!!  my mannequin has a shorter torso than me, hehe.  it doesn't bag like that above my booty.

to be honest, i didn't like this dress as i was making it.  i was real skeptical of how it would finish.  now that it's done, i actually quite like it!  love it, even!  i'm going to wear it later this week, when it's not raining.  i'll be sure to snap of pic of me debuting it. 

and now, a picture of bunks.  he likes to peer down at me from the back of the couch while i do physical therapy exercises and stretches at home.

"where's my lettuce, pegleg?!?!??"