The fabric for this dress also has a story.  This fabric was given to me by my aunt, who is a world traveler.  If I remember correctly, it is from somewhere in southeast Asia, but I do not remember what country.  It is intended to be a sari-type garment, but I was never going to wear it like that; I felt it would be much more useful as a dress.

I used Vogue 8555, which I have made before, although my first version has the pleated skirt rather than the straight one.  I shortened the bodice slightly from my first version.  I did not use the sleeves from the pattern because I felt that the fabric was too stiff to make them look good.  I drafted some plain sleeves instead, although they are not perfect– I have a bit of difficulty lifting my arms.  I’m not entirely sure if this is caused by my sleeves, or if the armholes should be raised.  (My first version of the dress was sleeveless.)

I obviously had to do a lot of thinking in my print placement, although I ended up having to re-cut the waistband.  This changed the look a little bit because my first waistband was the dark pink color, but I didn’t have enough left to re-cut, so I had to use the light pink.  I actually think I like the light pink better.  I used the selvage for the hem.

The end result is a nice little casual summer dress.