K had found a striped gauze fabric in my mom's stash some time ago and promptly claimed it for a maxi dress. With several end-of-year school functions that require her to dress nicely coming up, it was time to get busy!
![maxi dress square]()
Pattern: Little Lisette (Simplicity) 1893 for the dress and Ottobre Design 02/2002 #13 for the shrug
Size: dress, 12
shrug, 146
Fabric: dress, a cotton blend (perhaps rayon?) gauze
shrug, cotton interlock
mods: dress, lengthened the skirt portion and scooped the neckline in the front
shrug, cropped the sleeves
![Little Lisette Maxi Dress]()
![maxi dress]()
K went off to school today in her new outfit, a little resistant because she had been texting back and forth with her friends this morning and "no one else is dressing up today". Unbeknownst to her, she'll be receiving the President's Award for Educational Excellence this afternoon. I can't wait to see the reaction on her face when she realizes why I insisted she dress up!
Pattern: Little Lisette (Simplicity) 1893 for the dress and Ottobre Design 02/2002 #13 for the shrug
Size: dress, 12
shrug, 146
Fabric: dress, a cotton blend (perhaps rayon?) gauze
shrug, cotton interlock
mods: dress, lengthened the skirt portion and scooped the neckline in the front
shrug, cropped the sleeves
The skirt portion is not only longer but a few inches narrower. My fabric wasn't wide enough to keep the width. When it came time to lengthen the pattern, I looked everywhere trying to figure out the formula for a maxi skirt. When I finally found one that made perfect sense to me, I still didn't have enough fabric. With my mom on hand to help, I made it up as I went along.
I did not cut the straps on the bias as I didn't want them to stretch out. The straps were fine in length until I attached the skirt to the bodice. I ended up cutting 2 inches off the straps to maintain a proper fitting bodice.
The gauze was a major pain in the butt to work with. It slipped and slid around when I was cutting the dress out. And then when I was sewing it, the gauze had a tendency to stretch out. I was never so glad to be finished with a sewing project! That said, I do love how the finished dress looks. The pain-in-the-butt gauze makes for a lovely, flowy dress.:)
![maxi dress 1]()
Per the school's dress code, strapless or spaghetti strap dresses require some kind of jacket/covering over them. I turned to my trusty Ottobre magazines, and found a shrug from the summer 2002 issue. Only problem...that issue is in German!
Luckily, the pattern is very straight forward. The only thing that I wasn't sure on was what kind of fabric they used for the facing. I used single fold white bias tape.
![Summer Maxi Dress and Shrug]()
Per the school's dress code, strapless or spaghetti strap dresses require some kind of jacket/covering over them. I turned to my trusty Ottobre magazines, and found a shrug from the summer 2002 issue. Only problem...that issue is in German!
Luckily, the pattern is very straight forward. The only thing that I wasn't sure on was what kind of fabric they used for the facing. I used single fold white bias tape.
K went off to school today in her new outfit, a little resistant because she had been texting back and forth with her friends this morning and "no one else is dressing up today". Unbeknownst to her, she'll be receiving the President's Award for Educational Excellence this afternoon. I can't wait to see the reaction on her face when she realizes why I insisted she dress up!
