1960 Tangerine Eyelet Sundress

Once I made this pattern, I guess I had to do it again!

1950 Tangerine Eyelet Sundress

This pattern is Retro Butterick 5748, which I made once before in cotton lawn.  This time I used a tangerine cotton eyelet shirting (voile weight) fabric for the skirt, paired with an ivory cotton eyelet I found at Joann’s for the bodice.  The tangerine eyelet has a butterfly print border design and came in a fabric bundle grab bag from Fabric Mart.  I had been coveting this fabric ever since I saw it and was exhuberant when it came in my bundle surprise.  Unfortunately, I only received about 2 1/2 yards, so I had to be careful about how I cut it to make do with what I had.  I used all of the fabric except for a couple of small scraps and just barely got the circle skirt cut out.  To make it work, I shortened the skirt pattern by a few inches and only cut out on the solid part of the fabric and then sewed the eyelet border on to the edge of the skirt. There was just barely enough of the eyelet border to go around!

Tangerine butterfly eyelet

The bodice fabric is a lovely floral eyelet that I think goes well with the butterflies on the skirt.  I was surprised to find this at Joann’s, but I like surprises like this!

Ivory floral eyelet

I lined this dress with white cotton batiste, which is my go-to fabric for summery cotton dresses.  My favorite cotton lining is voile, but it’s a little harder to find and more sheer than the batiste, so I often go with batiste.  Especially since I can find it in the nearest city we shop in and don’t have to order it or drive further to get it.  I also sometimes use muslin if I want a lining fabric that is more opaque.

I did not have enough of my tangerine eyelet left over to cut out the bow pattern, and instead had to make a smaller one.  That also meant that I couldn’t make one for the back of the bodice either.  It was very tricky tying this bow!

I had originally envisioned making a sash out of the tangerine eyelet, but didn’t have enough, so I made some out of my ivory eyelet, of which I barely had enough of!  This project was almost like sewing with fabric scraps! lol

1960 Tangerine Eyelet Sundress

I also made a light petticoat for this dress, as without something it looks a bit sloppy…. I thought about making a crinoline or using one I already had, but I wanted this dress to be cool and comfortable and omitted that, plus I didn’t need to have a huge skirt for casual wear.  This petticoat is made using Simplicity 5006.  I have used this pattern a few times before to make petticoats and crinolines.  For this dress, I used View D and shortened the length to go under dresses.  I made it out of white cotton muslin.

And because I love this dress so much, I decided to take a family picture in it. 🙂

The Hughes Pack!

Happy Sewing!

Dress:  Retro Butterick 5748 in tangerine cotton eyelet shirting and ivory cotton eyelet

Petticoat:  Simplicity 5006 in white cotton muslin

Shoes:  Sam Edleman