completed: the white eyelet maxi dress

another weekend, another dress! ideally, i should have had this done much much sooner – it was pretty straightforward as far as construction & fitting goes. i feel like i never have enough time in the summer to work on my sewing, though, because i’m too busy running around, seeing friends & riding my bike & lounging on the front porch with a cup of coffee & my bff!

anyway, i finished this over the weekend, wore it over the weekend (ironically, to buy more fabric. haha!!), and even took some pictures so i could share with everyone 🙂 this dress marks a couple firsts – my first maxi, my first underlining attempt, my first time working with soo much trim. it also marks the last time i am ever sewing so many tiered ruffles! haha! omg those ruffles were such a paaaain.

anyway, dress deets:

i frankenpattered this one; the bodice & midriff is simplicity 9164 (without the contrast or trimming) and the skirt is mccall’s 5648.

i had a couple problems with the ruffles, namely, i didn’t buy enough eyelet… underestimated how much i’d need (uhhh the piece for the bottom tier was supposed to be cut 7 times! wth, how did i not notice that??) and ended up cutting that piece in half lengthwise so i’d have enough to gather. hence why it is so short – but it works, it ended up the perfect length! yay! i also did not realize that the skirt pattern calls for an elastic waist, aka no zipper – so i had to figure out where to cut a zipper opening so i could attach the top to the bottom. them i realized i gave away the invisible zipper i bought specifically for this dress… whoops… found a vintage zipper in my stash that works ok. it’s a little short – i have to pull the dress over my head bc i can’t get my butt through the zipper opening 🙂 – and it’s a little the wrong color, but oh well!

i opted to underline the eyelet with the softest muslin i could find… the color matches perfectly & keeps the dress opaque where it needs to be. i underlined the bodice & midriff – both front & back. should have underlined the top skirt tier but IDGAF about my panties being on display. ha!

the only other change i made to the patterns was my trim application – gawd, i used a lot of trim! i think almost 10 yards, actually! fortunately, i found a big bolt of this stuff at the flea market for a whopping $1… and i still have 5 yards left.

i decided i didn’t like the way the pictures were looking, so i moved under the magnolia tree…

not much better, but whatevah

bodice close-up – although the trim is stitched down on both sides throughout the dress, i opted to just stitch the top down at the neckline. i wasn’t thrilled with the way the trim looked with the elastic on my sleeves, and i like how on the neckline it kind of just looks like gathered lace.

see? sleeves.

the hem… sry2say, i actually cheaped out on the hem. i just serged the bottom & sewed the trim right on top of it – no folding, no handstitching, no pressing. quick & dirty! i was trying to preserve as much length as possible since i had to slice the bottom ruffle in half.

here is the inside. you can see all the muslin underlining. the midriff is white because it is interfaced – i used very lightweight sew-in interfacing because i wanted it to breathe. it is still underlined, just on the eyelet side 🙂
the zipper is handpicked; matching up those trims was kind of a PITA and they aren’t perfect, but i don’t feel like fussing with it anymore.

overall, really pleased with this dress, especially the fit. i love swishing around in long dresses so so much. and the off-white eyelet is really wonderful for these hot & humid days. ah, tennesee summer!

Tags: completed, dress, mccalls, patterns, simplicity, vintage, white eyelet maxi dress