I would have to say that 90% of the time I go into my local fabric store and just buy fabric with no real project in mind. Sometimes its because they are having a buy one- get one 1/2 off sale. Or sometimes it’s because one of my favorite designers, like Leah Duncan or Joel Dewberry, have released a new collection and I want to get it before it’s gone. But on this particular trip to Five Eighth Seams, I saw this pink fabric with gold dots from Michael Miller’s Glitz collection and I knew exactly what it was meant for. And why is that? Because it looked exactly like the fabric I recently saw in this Lilly Pulitzer dress:
Now before I go into the dress, you should know this one thing about me. I am not a fan of Lilly Pulitzer. I dislike about 80-90% of their dresses. And I hate that girls in Charleston call them “Lily dresses” (you are not friends with Mrs P, you have never met her, she is not Cher or Beyonce. And you are not part of a special society. So use her full name). But despite all that, I love to create a good DIY knockoff. Remember the Anthropolgie inspired skirt? Or the Taylor Swift look alike dress? So I couldn’t resist giving this shift dress a try. I shopped around for a pattern that matched this as best I could and decided on Burda Style pattern 7056 minus the feathers on the hem line (uh… for obvious reasons) and also added a few extra inches to the length.
I also decided to take off a small piece out of the back of the pattern to turn the back into a racer back. To do this correctly, I used a old racer back tank top that I already owned and lined it up on top of the pattern, traced with a pencil, and then cut off the extra piece as shown below.
Overall I think it turned out nice. This dress would look beautiful at a wedding, a shower, or a spring time fete. Not sure what a fete is but I bet it’s French for “an awesome party.” In these photos however I am just chilling at a fishing pier. But I guess it’s better to be over dressed then under dressed.
Fabric: Michael Miller Glitz from Five Eighth Seams //Pattern: Burda Style Youth from Simplicity #7056
Shoes: Steve Madden Espadrille circa 2012. Similar ones seen here // Necklace: Target
One last shot with my man squeeze/photographer.
Hope you enjoyed my DIY project! Feel free to email me with any questions pterzo@gmail.com. And thanks for stopping by!
xxoo Priscilla
