The Ikat Dress

So, as you all know by now, I went on a bit of a shopping spree in the New York garment district. One of the fabrics I got was a white and blue Ikat, which I then turned into a dress:

(On a side note: can you tell where I am? The boyfriend and me went on a long weekend to London at the end of September and took some time to visit the Harry Potter studio tour. It was awesome. These pictures are taken on the wooden bridge that first appears in Prisoner of Azkaban and gets blown up in Deathly Hallows part 2)

It's a self-drafted pattern, starting from my bodice sloper. I lowered the neckline (a bit too much I'm afraid, it's a lot more cleavage than what I'm used to!) and added 3/4-length sleeves and a skirt.

The skirt has eight pleats in total, four in the front and four in the back. I didn't want to go for pleats all over since I didn't have enough fabric and felt like the pattern didn't need all the extra volume.

The fabric was quite nice to work with. it's definitely not too slippery so it doesn't shift at all, but it's quite a loose weave so if you don't handle it quick enough it just frays away right in front of you. I bound all my seams and lined the entire dress in a cotton voile.

(the hem isn't uneven by the way, it's just my bag hiking half of the skirt up a bit)

I love how the hem turned out, it's really quite invisible. Because of the looser weave it wasn't that hard to pick up just one thread from the fabric!

I really like this dress, and maybe if I found something to wear underneath it so the neckline is a bit more modest, it could become a staple!