The Walk in the Park Dress

This is going to be a very green post. And a silly one. Just a warning!

Today there was an annual fair in my boyfriend's hometown, with a massive fleamarket. We decided to go by, have a look, and take the opportunity to photograph one of my latest makes in a local park. One of my childhood dreams came true:

See that? That's one of those massive balloons my parents never wanted to get me.  And today I got one. I had a hard time choosing (they had a Spongebob one as well) but I went for the one-eared, two-legged tiger. And I was SO HAPPY!

Derp. Seriously. Balloons make everything better, even if it's a bit too cold for the dress you're wearing and the thing keeps bumping into other people because it's windy. I spent most of the afternoon smiling like an idiot, and gave it to another child when we headed home.

Now, the dress! It's a print I've been hoarding for a while because I loved it so much, and finally had the guts to just go for it and make something. It's a Michael Miller cotton with a park printed on it. I love how it looks like wearing a painting!

The pattern is a combination of a free bodice pattern I once found online but had to adjust so many times it's basically my own, and the skirt from the Chantilly dress by Colette patterns (by far my favourite skirt for prints without too much of a horizontal or vertical direction going on! It's even fuller than a traditional gathered skirt, but the gores and the curved hem make for a way nicer drape). The zipper looks a bit wonky in this picture, but I swear it fits fine!

Pockets, of course. I lined the entire dress in a green cotton poplin I had around, and the combination of those two fabrics makes for an amazingly poufy skirt.

The bodice is a basic princess-seamed style with thin straps. I've used two straps on each side for a bit more bra-coverage. The strange bit is that the bust part of this pattern fit me fine, but the back and sides were humongous on me. I think I've removed around 20 cm all around!

And now for the pictures you've all been waiting for: me looking like an idiot in the park! Just proving that this dress is excellent for ancient ghost-summoning dances...

... Or high kicks. I seem to be astonished by my own leg here.

He's actually incredibly sweet and happy, but tends to look downright evil...

One last little update: blog posts have been a little sporadic over the past month (I worked a nine to five-job most of the time and just never had the time for pictures!), and I'm afraid things will stay like that for a while. My boyfriend and I have decided to find a place together, and after a lot of looking at appartments things are going very fast. We found a nice little place and are sort of preparing to move all our junk, ourselves and this grumpy little bugger in. Exciting: I'll probably have my own little sewing space, so expect some posts on that!