Morning! Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. Just a quickie from me today, another of my little sewing projects.
This summer dress is made from a beautiful vintage fabric I bought in a second-hand shop in Hastings Old Town over a year ago, when we were house hunting in the UK. The shop sells bric a brac, crockery, books etc and I just happened to ask if there was any fabric tucked away. Luckily for me the owner told me that a man had come in that morning with a suitcase full of fabrics he had found when clearing out his late mother’s effects. He believed the fabric had been purchased in the 1950s and then never used. What a find, I snapped it all up.
I was happy to think that I could turn this beautiful, summery fabric into a Happy Dress, I hope the original purchaser would have approved.
The dress is a bit of a Frankenstein, in that it has been made up from parts of different patterns. The top of my Vogue Going to the Wedding Dress and the skirt (with some added pleats) and pockets of my recently made Tiramisu.
I know I will enjoy wearing this dress the whole summer through.
Chica Andaluza 
Beautifull, what a talented lady xxx S & D
Gill of All Trades, Mistress of None 😉
Nice work – I’m off to the Soho Village Fête this afternoon – it’s going to be a scorcher 😉
I hear everyone is having bbqs – you need a Spanish Straw Fiesta hat to keep you cool! Have fun 🙂
Oh how wonderful to have found all that fabric. I love your dress! Isn’t it great to know just a wee bit of the fabrics history and I am positive the previous owner would definitely approve.
Have a beautiful week ahead.
🙂 Mandy xo
It was indeed a lovely surprise to open up the case and find lengths of lovely fabric, and I’m loving this retro look and swirly skirts!
I am sure the woman who originally purchased the fabric would approve, it is lovely. Even more so because of the fabric’s history.
I do hope so – I love that it has a “past”!
Your ‘franken frock’ is perfect for sunny weather. I am sure the original owner would be very happy to see her fabrics used so well.
P.S. Even Bewdley is sunny at the moment 🙂
England seems to be bathed in sunshine – how wonderful!
What a beautiful dress! I love the style and the fabric along with its history makes it even better.
Thank you so much!
Very cute. 🙂
Gracias!
De nada!
Everything a dress should be…enough room so that a real woman can fit into it, enough cleavage, enough leg, I can see you ala Brigette Bardot style barefoot with flowers in your hair dancing through the Spanish grass in summer…the dress is weaving it’s magic (either that or winter has set into my brain 😉 )
You SO get me….I don’t really “do” shoes at home and I think I should have been born back in the days when women had curves! Tonight though I have flour and not flowers in my hair as have just had a massive ravioli making session with a pal (and the pups)!
Sounds like great fun :). Steve and I had a massive gnocchi festival one night. We started out at 4pm “plenty of time!” and ended up starving and pissed out of our brains at 10pm (wine was plentiful, gnocchi was decidedly thin on the ground!) singing loudly to old Clash and Bowie songs on Youtube STILL waiting for the bloody gnocchi to be ready to eat. By the time we ate it, it was delicious but our intestinal tract (and brains by that stage) were too pickled to appreciate them. We haven’t revisited gnocchi since 😉
Sounds bit like last night, except we had nibbles to keep us going, so we were merry but still “functioning”!
🙂 nothing like a good “Knees up” to keep the blood flowing 😉
So cute – I want to find a suitcase like that! The fabric looks like a Liberty print! Great job!
I thought it looked like a Liberty print too but couldn’t find anything stamped on the selvedge to identify it 😦 Thanks for popping by and commenting!
Beautiful dress. Love the fabric. I would get fabric and stash it in my cupboard for various quilting experiments and still have a lot of it. They call them “Fat Squares”. I love the different patterns and when I get time to get back into my quilting, I shall show off the creations too.
Looking forward to seeing what you make – I made one quilt years ago by hand, and will eventually tackle another one!
A ‘happy dress’ with a history for the summer sunshine and warmth: lucky you being able to sew – I can knit, I can latchook rugs , but . . . so look and envy 🙂 !
I just taught myself as I got fed up of buying badly fitting clothes or only finding granny clothes to fit me!
You are so talented! It is a pretty frock 🙂
Well…if you look closely at some of the finishing off…but hopefully no one will be peeking under my skirt anyway!
Frankenstein never looked so good. You did a fine job here, Tanya. How about modeling if for us? 🙂
Aw, I’m shy! Maybe…..:)
I can picture you outside sipping a glass of wine and looking lovely.
Ah thank you – and as for the wine….you know me too well!
Great minds think alike
I adore those wee summer dresses in light cottons.. they are impossible to find here. The Matriarch has a brand new sewing machine that has been sitting in its box for years now and I really should get it out and teach my self to sew. It is the only way to dress myself in clothes I actually want to wear! The fabric you found is perfect for this style, did you buy the whole suitcase full? I find fabrics so hard to pass up.. Have a lovely day c
Oh you should definitely get that machine out – although when you’d find the time to sew I can’t imagine! Yes, I bought all the fabrics and made one dress last year, I still have two or three other lengths of fabric to play with!
Qué bonito es Tanya! Voy a tener que plantearme hacerte unos cuantos encarguitos 😉
🙂
Just “a little sewing project”?!?!?!?!?! You do yourself an injustice. This is just lovely, and I’m a little bit envious of your fabric haul, but it couldn’t go to a more wonderful home.
Ah, thanks! Am just deciding on the next “little project” 🙂
Wow, super cute, I’m impressed!!
Ah thanks Caroline!
I’ve spent the morning catching up with all your posts. Just wanted to say that I love your summer dress from the vintage fabric. I always smile when I see the tile in the background. I had the very same tiles in our courtyard when we lived in Florida.
we love those tiles – might have to take a few to England to tile round the garden sink!
so cute,……good job