prepping for the floaty franken-dress of summer

the resultant muslin

sources of the frankenpattern

For whatever reason, I fell back in love with floor-length skirts over the winter (possibly because I was cold) and particularly liked the fit of the mesh skirt.   I decided it was clearly also meant to be a dress and started going through my patterns for a top, when I realized the princess seam slip was actually a really good match.  The seams already lined up, and both already fit me.

So, I marked where on the slip the waistband of the skirt hit me, lay the patterns on top of each other and traced out a new set for a franken-dress.  With only a slight bit of adjustment, the muslin came out remarkably well.   The fit of the skirt wasn't quite as nice as that of the original skirt.... but, I was still happy enough with the result.   I made one major change (which, inevitably, doesn't show up in the picture) - instead of going straight back over my shoulders, the neckline is more triangular and wraps around my neck - leaving the back entirely covered.

I have it all cut out (and more or less put together -- it needs binding and hemming and an alteration at the neck I'll talk about when I've figured it out) of this sot of polka-splotched material.  The fiber content is a mystery (I never got around to a burn test) but my guess is polyester.  It frays like there is no tomorrow and is a bit of a pain, but I like the pattern and the floatyness, and I think it was all of a dollar a yard.  (AND! it is a stashbuster!)

Due to the totally transparent nature of the fabric, I'm also going to need a slip.  I dug through all the stretch materials I'd ordered back when I was trying to make my own arm braces, and grabbed this one. The picture doesn't do it justice, but its pretty close to the color of my skin and won't fight the pattern of the dress. (Double stashbust!)