Whatever Floats Your Boat, Sinks Your Battleship

It's Sew Dolly Clackett time!!!

It's like university all over again; the deadline is steadily approaching, I'm sewing like a sewing madman, I can't do simple maths to work out pleating, everything has gone wrong and I've even cried, BUT I HAVE DONE IT. Pulled it out of the bag with little room to breathe before the deadline, but it's here.

If you've been living under a sewing rock, you might not know what Sew Dolly Clackett is, (Shame on you.) but the lovely Sarah from Rhinestones and Telephones made a sewalong-come-wedding-present for the gorgeous Roisin of Dolly Clackett's upcoming nuptials. You make a dress inspired by her frankly substantial self-made wardrobe, and enter it on the Flickr for prizes and notoriety!

Fang Rock Dress | Green Ginger Dress

 I used the inspiration of Roisin's Fang Rock dress for the bodice and sailor theme, and her Green Ginger dress' pleats. Using the Butterick B5880 bodice (YES AGAIN) I tried to re-create the BHL Anna bodice (badly) she used, and the skirt is a 'self drafted' pleated dirndl.

This gets me points, right? Door, pose, shoes, print fabric, shoes...?

The fabric is a gorgeous cotton, bought from my local shop Rolls and Rems, and I ADORE it. It's got printed navy stripes and red anchors - who doesn't want that in a dress?

Fully lined in white cotton, under stitched with a waist stay - this is technically my best-sewn item to date! The zip busted on me in the final try-on, which caused me to cry (it was late, okay?) but luckily I persevered on with a second zip and managed to get out of the house for Gareth to take a few photos outside our door - this is meant to be inspired, after all!

I've had a bit of a massive blogger crush on Roisin for a while now, and I make absolutely no secret of this - I love her humour and her face and her super-human sewing skills (I lose count of just how many dresses she makes in a month!) and her shoe obsessions have, much to my boyfriend's dismay, inspired me to buy countless pairs of ridiculous shoes. Her sewing also inspires me to actually come out of my anti-print comfort zone, and I think every dress will be a Sew Dolly Clackett dress from now on!!

I wore my Irregular Choice 'Bowtiful' shoes, which are knitted. She herself has a tweed version, and I can't agree with this statement more;

"...Totally impractical. You can't wear them when it's warm and you can't wear them when it rains. I love them though."

Fabric: 
Cotton print fashion fabric 

& cotton lining

Pattern: 
Butterick B5880
& Self drafted skirt

Pattern Alterations:
Omitted neckline notches, graded up bodice size, adjusted neckline and kimono-style-sleeves added, replaced sarong skirt with pleated dirndl and in-seam pockets

Notions:

Invisible zip, bias binding waist stay

Make again?: 

NO. Not because I don't like it - this happens to be my FOURTH dress that is pretty much the same style - I need to STOP.

Final Verdict: 

I love this dress, I do. It's comfortable, and looks good which is all I ever want - and it's got anchors on it. Anchors.

Congratulations to both Roisin and Nic - I hope you have an amazing gin-filled wedding and many, many happy years ahead of you!

Melody ♪