The "When life gives you lemons" dress

So, being a bit worn out from sewing that plaid suit earlier this week but still wanting to make something, I decided to dive into a super simple project that I wouldn't mind if I messed up. So here goes that fabric I didn't know whether to love or hate that I got in the pig-in-a-poke bag of fabrics a while back... And a pattern that failed me miserably last time (or, well, I did manage to fix the problem fairly well, but still decided that the pattern was evil!). Therefore: When life gives you lemons dress.

Here's the pattern:

Swedish pattern Vi-mönster no. 2196, dated 1960. Last time, despite having cut the size 40 (that is like a US size 12) the neck and armholes were ridiculously tiny. Last time I just added more fabric to the shoulders because everything was already cut, now I wanted at real solution. I managed to slice and spread the pattern so it worked this time! If anyone is interested I can make a tutorial on how to make this kind of change!

And here's the fabric... Oh yes, it's a purple-white-lime green striped heavy jersey.








Imagine my happy surprise when I realized it actually came out like something I might wear. In public! It might look a bit jailbird without the belt (and especially in this horrible evening indoor light, the flash kills everything!), but with a belt, cute shoes and some more styling I think I might be able to make it work! Oh and also - it took me about two hours from taking out the pattern to wearing the dress! That was some well used time! Apparently, when life gives you lemons, you might still end up with a cute (but crazy) dress!

This belt didn't look mismatched in real light... Both belt and shoes are real vintage and comes from my mom! I am so lucky she has saved some things from her 60s-70s wardrobe that are still usable! Things were really better quality back then...