That 70's Upholstery Dress

I absolutely fell in love with this print the first time I saw it in Jo-Ann's. Yes, I am one of those guilty seamstresses who makes dresses out of quilting cotton. But it's just so pretty!!! (Actually I think it looks like upholstery fabric from the 70s but I adore it nonetheless.)

The finished product is inspired by the 'Luck Be a Lady' dress from ModCloth,

a blue flared belted dress I found on Polyvore

 and the 'Take Action' dress from Anthropologie . It has a scooped neckline, front neckline tucks, half-circle skirt and zips up the back.

I drafted the dress pattern up from scratch. First I draped a dress bodice on Marie Antoinette and transferred it to paper. Then I used this extremely helpful tutorial to swing the waist darts up to the neckline. That way I have neckline tucks instead of waist tucks. (And circle skirts are easy to draft; there are ten million tutorials for them on the internet.)

I tried my best to use professional finishing techniques and I think this dress turned out pretty well. The bodice is fully lined and topstitched around the neck and armholes, which are finished with self-bias binding. There are two pockets in the skirt and a hem facing as well. And what would a newly finished dress be without a matching belt? I used Casey's beltmaking tutorial and it turned out beautifully, and was so much fun to make! Both the buckle and belting are vintage, from the stash.

I still can't decide if I like the red belt better though!