Dancing the Charleston in the rain

A friend decided recently that, rather than having a party to celebrate entering her 30s, she was going to pre-empt it all and instead have a farewell to her 20s. As you might expect (or maybe you don’t?) the theme was all things F Scott Fitzgerald, with 20s style the lynchpin on which the evening was built.

Looking online at flapper dresses, I saw a couple of things that I liked the look of, but quickly found myself thinking “I could make that”. One quick trip to the rag market and several thousand dead sequins later, I had done just that.
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Chambray shirt dress

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Remember the quest to find the shirt dress of shirt dresses? Well it continues with a new contender. This dress has already had a lot of wear since it was finished at the end of April, and has become a firm wardrobe favourite for being both comfy and casual and fancy and formal, meaning it’s great for work, lazy Sundays and impromptu nights out. Winner indeed.

What is it?

A shirt dress with a pleated skirt

Is it blue?

Yes!

What’s the fabric and where is it from?

The fabric is chambray and it came from a shop on the Goldhawk road

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What’s the pattern?

The infamous McCalls 6696 in view B

What was good about making this?

For the most part the instructions were really clear and straightforward; possibly more so than I expected from one of the big 4. Additionally, by using the best poppers ever rather than buttons, I managed to avoid hours of buttonhole misery and got it from “bit of fabric” to “ready to wear” in about fifteen minutes (not a joke, I was determined I wanted to wear it out to dinner that evening).

What was bad about making this?

There are a lot of pieces and a lot of steps, so there were times when I got a bid bored of this. I also found that the back has a bit more fabric than I’d like. Also, it needs 140cm fabric to fit the skirt pieces which means that it took a while for me to find a fabric that I both liked and wanted to make this dress in.

Would you make it again?

I think so, although I’d sort out the back bodice. It’s had a lot of compliments already and is so easy to throw on it would be silly not to have a second (or third, or fourth…). I think I’ll probably go for something patterned next time though, just because

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