World Traveler

 Hey look at that, it's summer! So far I've spent it laying around the house, fishing, and playing a ridiculous amount of Settlers of Catan. I've been sewing a bit too, but I actually made this dress last June. I'm bad getting pictures of my makes, ok?! I don't have a tripod and I feel weird asking people to take photos for me :P

 So this is my world traveler dress. My sister got a dress pretty much exactly like this at our Plato's Closet. When I found this fabric at my college town's thrift shop I knew I would make it into the same style dress as Ally's. My fabric is a different pattern, but it's the same weight and the print definitely gives off the same vibe, if that makes any sense.

 Ally's dress has a black slip attached underneath the main dress, and I'd like to get around to getting/making a similar one. I'm wearing a white slip underneath the dress in these photos. It doesn't look bad, but I think a dark slip would be better.

 I self-drafted this puppy, and am pretty proud of myself for that. It's a really simple design, so I made cutouts on the sleeves for a little bit of interest. I used bias strips to bind the neckline and sleeve cutouts, and since the fabric is so floaty and I knew it'd be hell to work with, I mixed instant gelatin mix with water and put let the bias strips sit in it for a while, then dry. Stiffened the fabric up perfectly! And I have a ton of gelatin for some reason--I think I found a face mask recipe that uses it--so I'm totes going to use this trick for the rest of forever. I gathered the waist with some clear elastic thread stuff. I'm not sure if it's actually meant to be used for sewing purposes or if this is a legit technique, but it worked and that's good 'nough for me!

 "Wait I have to take another picture, this one looks like you're smelling your armpit"

So this is the pattern (you need to cut 2 of them) :) the top is your wingspan; cut a hole in the middle for your head and one on either side of this for the arm cutouts. The vertical measurement is how long you want the dress to be. And then you just gather it below the bust to your waist measurement (a shit ton of gathering. seriously.) I tried it on before gathering the waist and it looked HIDEOUS lol. Like some kind of ethnic robe muumuu monstrosity.