Inspired by a Sparkly Pineapple!

Yes, you read that right - I have been inspired by a sparkly pineapple to create a comfy tropical dress for summer!

Here is the sparkly pineapple:

Its a sequined pineapple with embroidered flowers and leaves on a soft woven handbag!!!  

Now I have absolutely nothing that goes with this bag, but I couldn't help but buy it when I found it online.  Its from the 90s, so its not my normal vintage purchase, but who could resist it!  I found some fabric that was tropical to go with the pineapple, but in colours that suited the rafia (that is if it is rafia - I have no idea what its made of...)

I liked the dark rosey pink flowers and the pale khaki green, and while its not a colour I would normally wear, it does suit me.

Now for the design of the dress!

I wanted a sweet-heart neckline strapless dress with some decoration on the bust, and a full gathered skirt.  But given that I had the picture in my head of what I wanted, finding the exact vintage pattern was like looking for a needle in a haystack.  Add to that that I didn't want to pay any more than $15 for it...

This left me with drafting my own pattern - which doesn't scare me, I love chucking myself in at the deep end!

I started with the adjusted blouse pattern that I used to make the bodice for my Melbourne Cup Dress.  I chopped it and pinned it and drew lines on it and came up with these pieces:

And because I wanted to be able to use the pattern again without having to remember anything, I then re created the pattern with all the seam allowances and things:

 

Trust me - it sucks when you use something you haven't used for a while and you forget to add the seam allowance and you've already cut it out and you have NO MORE FABRIC!

And because I was enjoying pottering around and taking my time, I had a bit of a fiddle with trims, and I came up with this:

I've since found better buttons, but I liked the bobble trim so I've stitched that on.  Now thats the front taken care of, but I still haven't incorporated the comfort factor... thats where shirring comes in!  But more about that next post!!

Beccie
xxx