Liberty Dress

This dress has been a long time coming.  I put it off as long as possible while Kevin and the kids were camping, but I finally buckled down, finished it, and I love this dress!  I want to make more of them, with slight variations.  Maybe for next summer. 

 The fabric on the bodice and the lower skirt is from Liberty of London.  I bought it, and 4 other fabrics, when Kevin and I visited London a couple of years ago.  It is easily the most money I have ever spent of fabric, and I was nervous to cut into it.  It has just been sitting, waiting for the "right" project.  I finally had to push myself to just use it already.  Even then, I procrastinated out of fear of wasting my precious purchase.

The center, coral panel was a fabric I had on hand, and it was a perfect match for the Liberty fabric.  It doesn't show in the photo, but the coral has tiny little swirls in a tone-on-tone scheme.  It's really delicate, and has some texture to it.  I went back and forth trying to decide if I wanted the center section different or not.  I think it would have looked fine either way, but I'm happy with how this one looks.

 I used Simplicity pattern 2377 as my guideline, but made a couple of minor changes to the original pattern.  I wanted a little more fullness in the tiered layers, so the coral is a little longer than originally called for, and the Liberty fabric at the bottom is about two-thirds longer than the pattern is set for.  Honestly, both could be even more full, but I cheated a bit and just used the full width of the fabric.  A single width for the coral and double that for the Liberty.

I don't know how much longer she will enjoy having me make dresses for her, so I might as well do a few more while I still can.

It's hard to see in the other photos, but the Liberty fabric is sort of a funky damask style.  It looks very traditional from a distance, but there are octopi all over it, and little hidden anchors.  I centered one octopus on the front bodice, and there are two rows of them on the lower skirt.  I like that this dress looks pretty traditional, but has a little surprise in the details.

Now, what will I make with the rest of my fancy Liberty of London fabric?