Nike Dress

I'm calling this one the Nike dress, because I nearly psyched myself out about it, but then gave myself a mental slap and told myself to just get on with it.  Just do it already.

I decided in early June that I really wanted a plain linen dress, something that would work with my skin tone, and be cool and comfortable for the summer.  I wanted something very loose and unfitted, and I wanted a dress with minimal seams, since linen frays like crazy.  I found some handkerchief weight linen on fabric.com for under $8/yard, in a bright fuschia pink and decided to take a chance on it.  It arrived while I was away, and it took about a week to both get it to the house, prewash the fabric, and then decide what to do with it.  

I cut this dress just like the cool as a cuke seersucker dress.  I cut my frankenpattern all in one, eliminating the waist seam, and cutting inseam pockets from a random pattern piece I found my pattern box.  This linen was extra shifty, and didn't soften as much in the wash as the navy blue linen did (although I think it will soften more with time and beating in the dryer), so it was a bit of a stink to cut.  The sleeves came out slightly shorter than I expected, and the hem came out kind of wavy.  I ended up losing a couple of inches to the length in trying to straighten it out.  It is still a bit uneven, but at a certain point, I just had to throw up my hands and say good enough.  #horseshoesandhandgrenades

I was able to use bias binding on the raw edges, and machine hem everything, which was nice.  It is loose enough that I can pop it over my head, so I could skip inserting a zip, which was also nice.  Linen can be finger pressed pretty easily, which is a nice feature when you are working with it, as it does save some time at the ironing board.  I pinked and zig-zagged all my raw seams, and did a slightly different order of construction so that I could sort out the shoulder seams, which were not wanting to match up.

I ended up adding a small tuck to each shoulder, which was a nice little decorative touch--I may do it in the future instead of trimming the shoulders to match.  It does make the bodice fit differently in the back, but I think I like it.

It is fairly wrinkled, after a day in 93 degree heat and high humidity, plus 90 minutes in the car between camp drop off and pick up for the boys, so I'm a bit worse for wear at this point, but I actually think that wrinkles are just part of the fabric when you are working with 100% linen.  It is light and cool and the color is good for my skin, so I'm going to call this a win.  I did make a soft sash to cinch the waist, but it is so hot today, I didn't want to wear it, and actually, it fits better without it anyway.  I guess it is kind of trapeze-like, but honey bear don't care.  I suppose I should get my hair into a beehive or something and channel the 60s. (um...no)  The color was kind of hard to capture--it is a very bright blue-pink color--probably about the only shade of pink that works with my skin tone!

I understitched the pockets, which really helped them to roll to the inside--this is the first time I've had good success with this technique.  I'll probably do it on future iterations of this dress (I have another seersucker dress in the hopper, plus something planned for fall)

This is probably the only photo that is true to color--the light was terrible with all the heat, but that was the best I could do!

Nike dress: me-made with Lightweight Pure Linen from fabric.com

Necklace: Beadforlife.com (bought at a small coffee shop in Jefferson City, MO on my last trip)

Earrings: gift

Shoes: naturalizer via ebay