The One Yard Dress

This summer I made a dress out of a yard of fabric.  That covered all my bits.  

Lemme 'splain.  

 

 

Remember when I bought that telio cotton knit fabric and the hand of the fabric out of the package was icky, but changed dramatically with washing?  I had bought two yards in different colorways, intending Elemental skirts, but when the fabric was so gross against my fingers, I called to return it.  The gal said she would refund my money but they didn't want the fabric back.  I felt kind of weird about it, but she was adamant about it, so I thought, well maybe something will present itself. 

After washing it, I thought I could use it after all, so I made one of the yards into the rhubarb Elemental skirt as planned, and have worn that skirt a lot.  But the dark green color was a bit of a quandry.  I already had the French terry Elemental skirt for cooler temps, and by the time I decided to use the fabric, summer was well advanced and I didn't need another skirt.  So I decided to have a go at making a Coco dress out of it. The whole whopping one yard.  A 60" wide yard, but still. 

Coco is a versatile and nifty pattern, but until this make, I hadn't cracked the sizing or proportions on my frame, so I was hoping to figure it out; if nothing else, it would be a toile. Obviously, I had to do cut-on sleeves or it wouldn't work, but I used the Emerald dress as a guide for the top, rounding the neckline. 

I used absolutely every bit of length to get the dress to 37" long, which is right on the edge of an acceptable length for me, but I figured it would do with tights.  I had to piece the binding significantly, but got the whole dress out of the yard!

I had in mind to wear it with tights, boots, and this purple-ish cardigan once the weather cooled, but I did try it with Birks in the summer a couple times.  Unfortunately, even though the knit isn't very thick, the spandex content just made me sweat in dress form.  So I put it away for the fall and happily stomped around in my Blunnies and tights the day I wore this.  (I felt like a better version of my mid-'90s high school self).

 

The plaid wrap barely lasted the way home, and I ditched the sweater after I got home, but at least it was cool enough that morning for the whole ensemble!