Buy or DIY: a polka dot maxi wrap dress 

sewing

I went to a wedding recently and all the girls my age were wearing maxi dresses. Seriously, every last one of them. Which is something I could definitely get on board with. I mean, think about it. You can still get all dressed up but don’t have to shave your legs. And then you are have all this extra material to twirl and hold in your hands while you’re on the dance floor (because I seriously never know what to do with my hands). So I knew since I had an event coming up, I should search around for the perfect new maxi dress.  I searched online and found this: I was in love! But then I saw the price was $220 and I was like, nope. The timing’s just not right for us… maybe if we’d met at a different point in our lives… it’s not you it’s me… blah, blah. So I tabled the idea of buying a new dress and decided to make my own dress, inspired by this one I’d fallen in love with online. And I knew just what sewing pattern would do the trick…If you follow my blog you’ll remember it was only recently that I tested the Highlands Wrap dress by Allie Olson. So I already had the pattern fresh in my mind and knew I could finish it in time. I also knew that since the rehearsal dinner would be outdoors by the water, I should account for the wind and make a few changes to the pattern. I ended up omitting the side slits for that reason and also added an extra snap closure inside.  The hardest part was trying to find fabric. I knew I really wanted a rayon or a voile to get that drapey, flowy, come-hither-and-dance-with-me look. In fact, my original idea was to try and score some of Sew Caroline’s voile from her Gleeful collection like she did for {this} dress.  But it was all sold out in my local store and online. I only found a few Etsy shops still carrying it but in limited yardage. Then, to my luck, I found {this} fabric on Fabric.com for only $5.98 a yard! And the quality is surprisingly pretty good! Very light weight with a great drape, but not too cheap or see through. Buy or DIY: A Maxi Wrap Dress


So there you have it. In the case of the flowy, maxi length, navy blue polka dot dress, I think it was a much better choice to DIY than to buy. I am still loving this pattern and have plans to hack my next one into a wrap skirt. Now only if I could find the right fabric…

xxoo Priscilla

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