the dog bed dress

Hmmm, a totally unromantic, slightly ridiculous and definitely a whaaaat?! title for a dress but to my mind it was just the obvious choice! See, when we knew Clara was coming along I looked out Sienna’s old dog mattresses (yes, doing this did evoke lots of feels) so as to re-cover them for the new arrival… I had a teeny bit of green upholstery fabric left from a previous re-upholstering job, enough for the smallest mattress, but needed some more for the other two, much bigger mattresses. So off I hopped to Spotlight and bought some lovely bright yellow cotton canvas… our current lounge room colour scheme is all wood, white, neutrals and with spots of yellow and obviously the most important thing about dog beds is that they co-ordinate nicely with not just your dog but the decor too…

After I’d finished, there were a few bits and bobs leftover, too much to throw away and to my delight I discovered the pieces for Vogue 1316 fitted on them, just. No further incentive required, but off I went, snip snip…

from left: future dress, scraps… and maybe, shoes…?

This interpretation of the pattern; a one colour dress with contrasting strips to highlight the seaming of the design has always been one I had in mind to make some day… only I’d originally pictured white corduroy and with black inset strips to highlight. But yellow/navy is fine with me. The inset strips are actually navy blue, the leftovers from the voile binding I dyed especially to make my recent Sydney jacket. So, it’s pretty much a free dress, something from nothing… the only thing I bought was the zip. Waste not want not!

So, ta da! what more is there to say?

The fabric is super fray-tastic, so my first step was to overlock every single edge. The method I used for the inset strips is the exact same method I used for my Swedish dress, … my tutorial for this is here. The very high contrast between the yellow and the navy meant even the slightest bit of “off” sewing was immediately very very obvious, so I was super precise and accurate in my sewing here. That’s OK, because I really do love precision work in sewing

pocketses!

I also adapted the pattern so I could have my pockets inside that curved front seam; an adaption I’ve made every single time I’ve made the pattern… if you want to see how I did that, the pictures of the pattern pieces are here. I did take a little extra finagling to do the pockets with the inset strip, which along that front edge is of course a binding, and not an inset strip, so it’s a slightly different method… to see how I did that, see my tutorial here. Different dress, but it’s essentially the same technique!

For the neckline, the lower hem and the sleeve edges, I trimmed away the seam allowance and simply bound the edges with the same bias binding. Simple dimple!

My dog bed dress is unlined… I didn’t think there was any need for it with the nice sturdy canvas fabric. My previous denim-jeans, version of the pattern is unlined too, and I think that’s fine for a more summer-y, casual style of dress. Lining is not much fun when the weather is warm.

Haha, it’s funny; this kind of project, with tacky, unprecious fabric, that I just kind of get this idea in my mind and I jut wanna go for it! often turns out to be my favourite kind of project. I sure enjoyed making this one, and I know I’m going to love wearing it too.

Below is how I wore it for its maiden voyage… Craig forced my hand into revealing it early when he chose it for the last day of my “their choice” challenge. I’m like, but I haven’t blogged it yet!! … usually I like to take some “nice” photos, you know… well serves me right for being lazy. I like my navy cardigan with it but don’t think I would ordinarily choose these sandals to go with it