Friday, December 3, 2010

Recently, one of my favorite sewing bloggers did a post where she made a dress from a vintage floral tablecloth.  It turned out gorgeous, and I immediately went to eBay to find one for myself.  I found this great white tablecloth with blue, purple, and aqua flowers, and won it for $5!

I thought the best style would be to do a full skirted strapless dress, so I ordered New Look 6457.

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I ignored the printed layout, and laid out my pattern pieces on the fabric in a way which would best showcase the flowers.

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I forgot about the 5/8" seam allowance, so some of my flowers got swallowed up in the bodice seam. It still looks pretty though, and way better than if I had not tried to match them up at all.

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To make the top border on the dress, I folded over the bottom edge of the band, pressed it into place, and pinned it.

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I pinned it to the bodice of my dress, careful to match up side seams. There was a lot of ease to work in on the bodice front, but I went slow and used a lot of pins and it turned out great.

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The directions said to sew with a 5/8" seam allowance, but I did 1/4" to have a wider band and showcase more of my flowers.

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After sewing, I clipped my curves, turned it inside right, and topstitched it into place.

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My completed bodice is ready for a skirt.

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This was the simplest skirt I've ever made. It was just a giant square and two rectangles that needed to be sewn together, and gathered along the top. I made sure the flowers on my side and back seams matched up perfectly.

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In two and a half hours, I was able to completely put the dress together except for the hem. That included cutting out the pattern pieces, too. It's a really easy dress and I will definitely make it again in the future.

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Not being content with just ONE tablecloth dress, I already have this one on it's way from eBay. Now I just have to wait 5 or so months until it's warm enought to wear it!

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4 comments:

  1. I love how you arranged the flowers on the bodice and skirt. Great use of fabric and beautiful dress. I will go through my tablecloths. I know I have some white linen ones that could be really elegant as well as printed ones.

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  2. I think someblubody needs to make their favorite Wench a dress for Christmas...34/26/38! Love that strapless number!

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  3. Lovely! ind doing it in JUST 2 hours?? WOW, you did a great job matching the printing....I haven't been brave enought to sew a dress with big prints that need to be matched, soon I will.....,I have a question, in this dress (in the body) you didn't use those plastic or metal sticks? (sorry I forgot the name in english)

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  4. Thank you! I think you mean boning? No, I didn't use it. I put a piece of elastic through the top band and that holds it up.

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