I had a very clear vision in my head when I started making this pink and black stripe dress. I saw this image and fell in love with the style of this dress, especially the sleeves. You know I love a good statement sleeve. I made a few tops this winter with some great bell sleeves here and here. I also had the perfect pattern. It wasn’t going to be exactly the same, but it was going to have great sleeves.
After All That Work I Hated the Dress
When I finished this pink and black stripe dress I put on it and thought “Oh God, this is terrible”. I really didn’t like it. It was really bright and loud with too many stripes. Normally, I like bright, loud things. That is part of the reason I started this blog. I wanted to create clothing that stood out and, couldn’t be found anywhere else. Well, this dress definitely stands out. No chance of losing me in a crowd with this on. You can spot me coming a mile away.
So, I took it off, hung it up and moved on to something else. It hung there in my sewing nook in the basement. While I worked on a few other things, I kept starting at it. I wasn’t sure if I was going to post it or not. I really just didn’t like it.
Finally, I decided whatever I’m going to photograph it and see what happens. I have a photographer photograph my stuff in batches. I usually make 3 or 4 things and then she comes to my house and takes pictures.
That is why most of my scenery is the same. We always shoot around my house. I’ve thought about meeting her elsewhere to get different backgrounds for photos, but because we don’t meet regularly and I have a few different things to photograph at once it was a big hassle. However, I didn’t want to be hauling a bunch of stuff around and changing in my car. I know a lot of bloggers do that but, it’s just not my thing. So that is the story behind why I am usually standing in front of a big row of hedges. It’s right outside my house.
Getting Creative
Anyway, while I was getting together everything to photograph, I started trying on different things with the dress so it didn’t seem so loud. I can up with a few options that I really liked, and the dress started to grow on me.
I started by putting on a black sweater and pushed up the sleeves on the sweater so you could see the great sleeves on the dress. It looked cute and not so loud.
Then, I took it one step further and threw on a pair of pants, swapped out the heels for flats and thought “Hey, I am really liking how this looks.” The black helped tone the brightness a lot and I really liked how it all looked together. A little creative styling can go a long way.
Pink and Black Stripe Dress Pattern and Fabric
I mentioned before that I had this Vogue pattern 9344 picked out for this dress. I made a few minor adjustments. There is a band at the bottom of the sleeve I removed. I put some elastic around the bottom which makes it easy to push up the sleeves. I also added a self-drafted flounce. The fabric was purchased a while ago at fabric warehouse here in NJ.
I’m glad I didn’t give on up this dress. Getting creative is the name of the game this week. A little outside of the box thinking was all that was needed to make sure I didn’t look like a pink and black stripe clown.
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Hope you are off to a good week. Thanks for reading.
Photos by – Chloejane Photo + Film