Way back last summer I got the most amazing nani iro double gauze fabric in the mail from the Imagine Gnats Shop. Way back, longer than that ago...I bought and printed out the staple dress pattern...They both sat and sat sadly ignored.
Honestly, the staple dress sat ignored for a while because after purchasing it I just wasn't quite sure it was right for me. And, the nani iro fabric, well...that of course sat just waiting for the perfect project...
And then, not so way back, just last month...I decided it was time to break them both out.
It was Me Made May after all and, while I wasn't necessarily planning to wear me made everyday, I did want to try to either wear or work on making something for myself everyday.
The dress came together pretty quickly, although I'm always fairly slow at facings...it's just not necessarily my forte. I made the small (later I wished that I had gone with my gut and made an extra small...) and added three rows of shirring 1/4" apart with the bottom row just above the pockets. Part of my concern with the dress was that it was going to look too "frumpy" and "boxy" and "hospital gown like"...And, let me just say, that when I tried it on before all of the shirring was added, that is exactly what it looked like! Kind of scary! After the shirring though it looked better, although still not quite as nice as I had hoped it would look. The addition of my mustard sash from my Easter Marigold dress helps to make it look nicer though, I think.
I do really love it though, I mean how can you not love this fabric with it's tiny little bit of metallic shimmer! And, I will say, it is amazingly comfortable, anything double gauze is, but this dress is just super easy to pop over your head and go!
After the double gauze staple dress I was really curious to see how the dress who be in something even more airy than double gauze. So I thought I'd try making it in rayon challis (from Imagine Gnats) and let me just tell you...I am in love with this dress!
Rayon challis and the Staple dress are, as far as I'm concerned, a match made in heaven! It seriously feels like butter wearing this dress! And the lovely drapey softeness of it is so amazing next to your skin. When I wear this dress I can't stop thinking...I made this!
Of course, it's nothing truly amazing, a simple pattern with a few simple elements but it feels like it's amazing! Although, I will say that sewing with rayon challis was a little more piddly than I had hoped it'd be, but that may have merely been the fact I was sewing it up super late at night after having already sewn a pair of pants and a dress...
But I digress...This go around I sewed up the extra small and between that and the material the fit is much better, I still like it with a sash or belt best.
Black is not really "my color" but it is nice to have a black dress that can be either casual or elegant. I've already got some green rayon challis that I might use to whip up one more staple dress...
Oh, and lest you think I walk around wearing a fedora often...It was a whim purchase, and for the purposes of these photos, it was really all a ruse...I just wanted to cover up my messy hair and no make-up face (laziness!). And then, my lovely husband told me I had a little bit of a "Smooth Criminal thing" going on...
And I totally lost it! HA!
So, in the end the staple dress pattern may, in fact, become a "staple" in my wardrobe, when made in rayon challis that is...
