Gypsy made: Poppy Days dress

Sometimes, the simplest of dresses yield the most pleasing results. This is the case here.

It's really just a tank dress with a gathered rectangle skirt, self drafted (with a few fitting issues as I couldn't find my basic block to start from) and stitched up one lazy Sunday. Ok, it wasn't all easy, this was the dress that inspired my 'Desperate for Dresses' post - the madcap dash of having something new to wear - for my office Christmas party - never equals a successful make. Why do I do this to myself??

I loved this fabric too much to relegate it a  UFO though. It's a super soft rayon, bought for a few dollars at fabric-a-brac; a fundraiser where I truly lost my marbles and spent FAR too much cash on fabric. Once again, why do I do this to myself??

It was, like I said, very easy to make - a simple tank with bust darts, and several rows of shirring elastic into the waist , which is super easy and very effective, not to mention comfortable. The skirt is a double length of my waist, gathered and then shirred, so it has a wonderful, if very inflatable, fullness. And for that I fully forgive the dress for the berating I gave myself above.

Possibly the biggest YAY from this dress was finally learning to use bias binding! It is now my absolute favourite finishing technique. I always struggled with facings, and bias binding is nice and neat, provided that I iron between every step, of course. It also has the bonus of adding top-stitching at the same time! I am in love, and I admit that my house is now littered with bias binding strips.

And how cool are the little planes? We bought my Dad an aerobatics flight for Fathers Day last year, and after many bookings and cancellations, Saturday had perfect weather. No a cloud in the sky, only the slightest breeze, super warm - gorgeous! So up Dad went to do loop-de-loops, and I batted my eyelashes at the staff on the ground to get some pics by the airplanes... tehe!