Cool as a Cuke

This was another impulse fabric buy when I was visiting my parents.  I went into Joann Fabrics to look for some notions, and of course, the fabric is right by the front door, and you have to pass through it to get to the rest of the (admittedly tiny) store, so of course, I just had to have a little keek.  I wasn't really intending to buy anything. 

Famous last words.  

I ended up buying several colors of a linen-rayon blend for some fall projects, as well as this 100% cotton (!!!) seersucker.  While I like the Kaufman seersucker that I used on the McCall's 8272, it does have some polyester in it, and isn't quite as breathable as 100% cotton.  This seersucker has a looser weave to it, and the stripes are a smidge wider (the Kaufman stripes are very narrow), but it behaved very well during sewing.  

My main complaint is that I lost nearly 1/2 a yard in the pre-washing process, and I'm pretty sure the gal who was cutting shorted me a bit of yardage.  She goofed on one of the other lengths (and I caught it before I checked out) so it wouldn't surprise me if this was short a bit to start with.  It meant I barely squeaked out my dress--I had nothing left over for a belt, and barely had enough at the end to make the bias strips for the sleeve edges.  

I cut this all in one with inseam pockets as separate pieces, and I'm pretty pleased with it.  When I first tried it on, I panicked a little.  It felt too loose, too voluminous, too 80s.  At best, I figured I'd made a nice nightgown.  It just seemed too big in all kinds of weird places.  I do think that was more to do with the belt I tried first (it was a bit narrower than this one, and the fabric bunched strangely around it), and also the fact that I was having a bad belly day. (I dropped 3 pounds in 24 hours over the weekend, so it looks better today).

I'm ridiculously pleased that I've finally figured out inseam pockets!  This was probably my best try to date.  I did think at first that they were a mess, but now that the dress is hanging properly, they seem fine.  I do have a bit of excess fabric in the back, but it is okay, I think.  I wasn't going for super fitted.

Construction details:  I made this almost exactly the same as the Butterick 3819 (incidentally, I gave that dress away to my friend this week, as I decided it really doesn't suit my coloring, and I knew it would suit hers beautifully.  We are similarly proportioned, so I figured it would fit her well and it does!)  I was able to skip the zip all together since the fit is so loose; aside from having to zig-zag all the edges in addition to pinking, the machine sewing went pretty quickly.  I did self-bias strips for the sleeve facings, which I thought was a nice little contrast to break up the vertical stripes.  I did wish I'd had enough to do the neckline and hem, but will probably try this on the next iteration!  (I have some blue seersucker coming in the post)  I hand finished all the facings and edges on the inside to give it a clean uniform look.

I think I might pick up another 1/2 yard when I'm in a store next, because I think it would be fun to make a matching obi belt to go with this dress.  I noticed eshakti had one on a similarly styled dress and really liked the look of it (it must have been popular because I can't find it now to link to!)

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy wearing a nice cool dress that is pretty unstructured (and look into expanding my pendant collection).  I think I could even go for a faux-lagenlook style with this dress if I skipped the belt and added leggings or slim capris or something underneath.  I'm sort of curious to try it out.

Details:

Cucumber dress: Butterick 3918 hack from frankenpattern using 100% cotton seersucker in lime green from Joann.com

Leather belt: etsy

Cuckoo clock necklace: Weeping Grove (etsy)

Softspots shoes: via ebay

Earrings: gift