Remnant Dress

I had enough of the lightweight chintz print cotton twill left to eke out the bodice for another take on Fake Burda 6401.  There was enough for some patch pockets, too, and, once I realized the skirt would be a bit short, I pieced a strip to insert on the skirt.

The rose pink polyester blend used for the edges of this dress provided most of the skirt, and the ruffle and bodice lining used the fabric from the edges of this dress.

 

Is it kind of a mess?  Sure!  Will it work for wearing around the house in summer?  Yep!

I used the rose pink as bias binding for the neckband, after sewing the shell to the lining at the arm openings.  I edge stitched the arm openings after turning and pressing everything. 

 

I fused the interfacing to the lining.  I went with a lining instead of just facings because an all-in-one facing on a bodice this short is almost the shape of a full lining, and it took less brain power to just cut the bodice pieces again.  I used cotton for the lining, instead of lining fabric, for the breathability, and because I don't plan to wear anything under it that a cotton lining would get grabby about.  I made this dress the same way and haven't had any problems.

I did use some scrap lining fabric in the pockets, not for the sake of being lining, but as a way to turn the curves smoothly.  I cut the pocket lining/facing a little smaller than the pocket, sewed them right sides together, clipped, turned, pressed, then bound the top edge with some of the white-on-natural print.

That white-on-natural print was, as I discovered when I used it before, printed very badly off grain.  I cut it on grain in the bodice, because it wouldn't be seen.  For the visible pocket bindings and the ruffle, I cut it following the print instead.

That made it easy to apply the lace offset from the edge.  I thought of applying another line of lace higher up, again using the print for placement, but decided not to go overboard (not this time, at least--I got a 165 yard spool of it, so I have plenty.) 

The center back seam was necessary, given the remnants of fabric I had to work with.  I also had to piece the black fabric inset on the skirt--there was enough to make the front from a single strip, and I tried (tried) to sew the back pieces of that together in areas with little to no flowers, so the joins would be less obvious. 

Again, not a great dress, but serviceable, and used up a lot of what was left of these fabrics.