Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Christmas Outfit No. 2 - Santa Wiggle Dress

Not that long ago I found this gorgeous piece of vintage Christmas fabric:


The lady on Etsy had two pieces of it to sell.  One was 64 inches long, the other was 54 inches long, so a total of 118 inches, or just under 3 metres.  By the looks of it they were originally Christmas themed curtains back in the 1950s, and due to this there was a little bit of staining and discolouration in places.  But for US$22 how could I pass it up?

I decided to make a cute wiggle dress from this adorable fabric.  But of course, I didn't just use one pattern... Can't go doing something like making it easy for myself can I!  I used the skirt pieces from this pattern (which actually fits me!):


And I turned this top into a bodice (this one fits me too!):


Actually, I really love this pattern, and it worked up really easily, so I might be using this a bit more to make myself some easy summer tops.  And I'm a bit partial to the lady on the left with the big bow belt and circle skirt... hmmmmm.

And what I ended up with was this:


Possibly the cutest wiggle dress ever!

To do justice to this piece of fabric, I decided that I needed to piece the bodice so that Santa was in the front and the reindeer wrapped around the side, with the border of the fabric around the bottom of the skirt and repeated again in the foldover at the top of the bodice.


I really like the way that the border repeats itself at the top and the bottom of the dress.


The back is really nice too, and has a vent instead of a split.  I read on someone else's blog about them having a phobia of skirt splits cause they can split without you noticing and before you know it your bottom is on display!!!!  I've been paranoid ever since!!!!

This bodice is also fully boned with 6 bones (two front, two back and two side).  Its not going anywhere!

And I decided to accessorise this one with vintage bracelets and a red belt.  I feel the dress is decorative enough without adding too many accessories.  Well today I feel like that... who knows next time I wear it!


Stella wouldn't stop photo bombing so I took that to mean she wanted to make an appearance too!

So what do we think of Dress Two???

Beccie
xxx


13 comments:

  1. I love the dress it would be great if you made these and sold them in a plus sizing? love it<3
    You look great even head bands to match.

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    1. Hello anonymous person :) Selling custom dresses is something I'm going to look into next year, and I don't see why plus sizing would be a problem :)

      The only issue is the fabric. When you buy vintage fabric you can only get what you can get, and given that all I have left is in scraps on my floor, there isn't enough to make another one. Its a true one off original!

      However, that doesn't stop me making this out of modern fabric...

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  2. I love it! My goodness! Its so pretty and festive! Great job mama! xox

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  3. Beccie,
    Your dress is absolutely fabulous! I'm so glad this fabric was repurposed in a truly creative and FUN way!

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    1. Thanks Kari :) Christmas is definitely the time of year when you can just have fun with what you wear! And the fabric was adorable and deserved a second chance at being something fabulous :) Thanks for selling it to me!

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  4. You are very talented. So cute!

    http://dividingmoments.blogspot.com/

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  5. gasp! you didnt! TOO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i would never on earth have thought to use that fabric for a wriggle dress! great vision for excellent result! you are rockin' the christmas scene!

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    1. Thanks very much Rebecca! I am just addicted to border prints, so if I can't do a full skirt my next option is a pencil skirt... and the idea kind of grew from there :)

      And yes, I think I am rocking it ;)

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  6. Adorable!! And I love your puppy too. My Auntie's have a Schnauzer.

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    1. Stella is my adorable furry baby - and miniature schnauzers are the perfect dog, your Auntie must have great taste :)

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  7. Do you sell these dresses? i love them!

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