The Jackson Pollock splodge dress

I just finished a pretty little number.

The fabric is a Liberty tana lawn called “Melly”. You might recognise it from Elise’s tulip sleeved peplum blouse.

It’s a bit of a sad little tale really. I wanted so desperately to pair this lovely fabric with some black shiny buttons and decided the Deer and Doe Sureau would work excellently. I was also going to add black contract bands of ribbon to the skirt and sleeve hems.

But in my eagerness to press ahead I didn’t realise that the waist measurements I’d used to grade my pattern weren’t quite right. Curse you, biscuits! I ended up with about 5/8 ” of a gap where the side seam wouldn’t meet (*shakes head in horror*) and there was not enough seam allowance to let it out.

I had a good half metre of the Melly cotton left so I thought I might be able to squeeze something out of that but the Sureau pattern pieces were just too big. Instead I turned to my trusty Simplicity 2444.

The pattern pieces fortunately fit on the remaining fabric and I cut cap sleeves out of the Sureau full sleeves, that had been rendered useless. I kept the Sureau skirt which is a bit slimmer cut when you compare to my previous 2444s.

I love how from a distance this fabric looks so delicate, almost floral but up close the paint splatter effect is brilliant. I feel like a walking Jackson Pollock painting.

The sleeves made this version feel quite different to my other Simplicity 2444 dresses (I’m pretty sure this will be my last for a while now though). But as I’m sure you’ve noticed I took them off. They were a teeny bit too tight for all the dancing I was planning!

Only the skirt is lined this time, in a bright blue polyester and I inserted a side zip to give myself a new challenge. This may be my best “centred” zip insertion to date; I think this is due to me marking out in air-erasable pen where to sew rather than following the grain of the zipper alone.

Do you think the dress lacks a bit of punch? It made me feel sad that I ended up having to make a different dress to the one I had in my head but overall I’m happy.

I wore the dress to my friend’s wedding at Chevin Country Park near Otley, paired with red satin ballet flats, a fabulously gaudy silver necklace that forms a big knot, a matching silver handbag and since it is November, a black wool cardigan. Plus curls, because y’know they’re muchos fun! I think I possibly should have also worn a belt to supply some contrast. I made a black bow belt but it came out looking too twee and didn’t have a bought belt that fit the bill.

So there you go! My last Simplicity 2444 for a while. I should probably hide the pattern from myself right?