Upcycling #6

Many years ago I couldn't resist thrifting a bit of yardage with loads of colors that I usually don't wear, but...butterflies and moths...although...manufactured by Shamash and Sons, so: butterflies and moths rendered in the most direct, unstylized--yet vague--way.

I immediately made a skirt

(the files say June of 2013)

I wore it a lot!  And managed to spatter paint on it from an airbrush mishap (not the first or last time that happened.)  And then gained weight.  But I kept it, because, as subtle as they were, there were still paint spatters, so it was completely inappropriate for donating.

Then I decided to do this whole skirt-to-dress upcycling project.

 At first, I had decided to use more of this (generously gifted, thanks again) fabric as the print to mix with the bugs

(which I had previously used to make McCall's 7742)

When I started getting ready to work on this project...enh.  But!  I was also gifted a sister fabric to this, another colorway of madras with dark blue overprinting in the same flower pattern.  While I'm not usually drawn to dark blue, one of the madras colors was a very close match to the blue gray ground of the bug print.  So!  I'd use that.

...but...

I realized that I wasn't excited by my original idea of making both the bodice and a skirt extension from that overprinted madras.  I wanted to add another print.  Once I decided it would be better for the skirt extension to be made from the flimsy madras and the bodice from something sturdier, I settled on this Extremely Not My Style "Designed by Kris Taylor for Fabri Quilt, Inc" fabric that fascinated me in the thrift store a few years ago

 it's like...1990s cartoon traffic cones...

The colors all match up with colors in the butterfly/moth print, so I decided to go ahead and use it, despite my hesitation about brown clothes--I mean, there were already hesitation-inducing blues and bright yellows in this project, so why not.

So I had it all picked out and ready to go...then realized that I wanted to make the bodice with set-in sleeves, instead of the extended shoulder I had originally planned.  And contrast sleeves, too.  Well, then, OK, I have plenty of the overprinted madras left, I can use that.

...yeah no...

I hoped I could find a print with a lot of a green similar to the green used in the butterflies, but I was surprised by my lack of that--I do have a bit, but I felt like the style of the print didn't fit with the overall vibe of the other three prints already committed to.  So, I kept digging and opened my mind a bit and ended up with a wax print with a strong border element--it's on the bottom here

(whoa, that picture is from 2014)  Not as bright a green as I was envisioning, but it coordinated really well overall.

See?

(I feel like, between the colors and the scrollwork look of the sleeve print, this definitely hearkens to Acorn Cottage Artisanry's style--Hi, Alison!--but done in my usual slapdash way.)

I folded the selvedge in once, so as little as possible of the print would be lost, and did the usual process of ironing it before attaching the sleeve, then stitching the sleeve hem after sewing the side seams.  Yes I install the sleeve flat.  Slapdash.  --oh, though, speaking of the sleeve, I used Butterick 6470 for the bodice again (with neckline and facings borrowed from Simplicity 8523/8061) and whoa do those sleeves set in with barely any fuss.  They're not the aggressively asymmetrical no-ease sleeves that Kathleen Fasanella and fashion history advocate, but they're really good for a major US pattern company.

I mean, look: the sleeve cap visible here hadn't even been pressed.

And, speaking of the borrowed neckline/facing pieces

I was struck with the desire not to use fusible interfacing for this, so doubled the overprinted madras.

The overprinted madras part of the skirt is attached flat instead of being a ruffle.

A ruffle just didn't feel right here.

But of course pockets did!

Looking at it as it hangs in here, I may not have made the bottom of the bodice curved enough--I cut it near the lower "lengthen or shorten here" line on the pattern, and freehanded the curve.

Just a bit of the rest of the wax print pattern is peeking out on the backs of the sleeves--I could have been fussier in the cutting, but that would have meant taking chunks of cloth from the center instead of the end, especially since the other end had already been used for a doll dress

Still, overall, I'd call this project a success.  As long as I have purple hair, that'll balance out the uncharacteristic browns and blues, right?