Fabricville Contest - Project: Sherbet Striped English Dress

My favourite fabric store is having a sewing contest: buy fabric from them, keep you receipt as proof, make a garment, take pictures and send it in to win a dream sewing room.

It just so happened that I recently bought fabric. I know, I know, I said I would not buy any new material, but I’m an addict. And I had been dreaming of this particular fabric since I first spotted it on my Fabric shopping trip with Nancy-Raven last summer.

Sherbet Striped Fabric

Guess what I intend to make with it? Come on, guess: what is one of my favourite Era? No, it’s not a Medieval. Nor is it a Victorian dress. So what’s left? 18th Century! Come now, doesn’t it make you think of all the pastry coloured dresses from Marie-Antoinette (2006)?

I’m thinking of making it very simple. The fabric is a woven upholstery cotton blend, but it is lighter than is looks and just spells “Summer’s day in the Country”. I can wear it with my pink cotton skirt and straw hat (from my Pink and green ensemble). I’ll use Simplicity 4092, which is the pattern I used for all the dresses I made for the play Le Tzigane au Croissant d’or (see Gypsies and Nobles: costumes from "Le Tzigane au Croissant d'or" posted on February 5, 2010). I can make one of these dresses in six hours, so I know I’ll find enough time in the following month to manage it.

And if I don’t win, at least my dress will be ready in advance for the Fêtes de la Nouvelle-France!