…….making sure most of what I wear is beach appropriate. AND for wearing cut-off shorts with everything clearly!!!! To that point, the shorts I have on here are my favorite summer shorts. I wear the dickens out of them!! I got them a couple of years ago but paid way too much at an LF Stores in The Village in NYC. (Let’s assume it was post-brunch and mimosa fueled.)

But back to this post, shall we? I keep a pretty deep vault of inspiration between Pinterest, Instagram, magazine pics and just life. And this pic has been in my inspo vault for a while now. I actually thought it would be my first collaboration project with Mood Fabrics back in April of this year. At the time, I couldn’t find a similar enough printed fabric but this lace caught my eye on Mood’s website.

Do I even have to mention that I gasped?!?! You all know how I get!! I ordered 2.5 yards of this as well as 2.5 yards of a medium weight linen to underline it. The linen seems to be no longer available on Mood’s website. I thought this was extra special because of the scalloped borders. I knew that I had to keep that for the hem of the dress.

This fabric didn’t qualify for the Mood project but I knew this was a dress that I’d want to make anyway so I kept on with my order. But this has been sitting around since April. I knew this would be a project that I’d want to take my time with because the lace was so pretty and I really wanted to make it to the best of my ability. I used a Big 4 pattern as the base for the bodice and I cut a width of fabric (preserving the scalloped edge) double my waist measurement and just gathered it to the bodice.

I basted the lace to a layer of linen for the bodice and skirt and I kept the linen lining so that i can clean finish the inside of the dress. My biggest worry then became the closures and how to get buttonholes on. The lace has thick embroidery and raised flowers and I KNEW my home machines were not up for this challenge. Luckily, the fashion district is mostly back up and running and I decided to go get professional buttonholes done at Jonathan Embroidery Plus on West 38th St near 8th Ave. HOLY COW!!!! That machine went right thru the flowers and layers of lace, linen underlining, and linen lining! I was out of there in 15 mins and 10 mins of that was waiting for the customers in front of me. I’ll definitely go back there for future projects that my home machines can’t handle.

Overall, I’m happy with the project. I would’ve like for it to be more fitted in the bodice but I trimmed down a bit since I first cut it and I’d already taken it in a bit so I didn’t want to keep going in to alter it. Plus, if I do gain some weight back, I have that wiggle room. And I love to multi-task my clothes so love that I can wear it as a dress or a cover. Right now, I like it more as a cover. I can easily get swallowed up in maxi dresses so I like being able to style these dresses differently.