Burda printed maxi-dress out of scarves

 Once upon a time, I was deployed to Kuwait.  And while I was there, I saw a vendor selling many pretty scarves.  I bought several large Kashmir scarves for both my self and all the women in my family.  I also bought two poly-something scarves that were not really useful in any way but were really pretty.  When I came home I folded them up and put them in my closet.  And there they sat.  for years...

And then this summer I came across this dress on Burdastyle.

I was immediately drawn to it and knew I had to sew it.  And those scarves came to mind right away.  Unfortunately, the scarves are not made of the best of fabric and I stubbornly pursued the endevor despite many setbacks.  (It was supper slippery and actually did not hold up well when being handled.  I serged the edges to reduce the fraying but I will be suprised if it survives more than three washes; even if I hand wash it.)

hanging off a historic train

I measured my bust and the top ended up too small.  So, I ended up cutting up the back and inserting elastic.  This worked only because there was a group of gathers in the center of the back.

back with elastic insert

 I luckily had some pretty yellow elastic.

And then the v-neck was a bit deeper than I normally wear so I added a bit of a modesty panel with some extra fabric.

I simply cut it to size and then hand sewed it to the inside.  The pattern has the bodice fully lined and if I had it fit right in the beginning, it would have been just as pretty on the inside as it is on the outside.

And it was super long!  I cut off about four inches in the pattern and it is still was too long.  I think they only expected women who are 6 feet tall to wear it.  I did not have time to hem it again before the wedding so I clipped it up in a sort of a side bussel.

I wore it to a co-worker's wedding at an old train station.  My husband and I took a picture of us next to the bride and groom's get-away car.  And then some old guys walked by and told us to go check out the car show that was occurring just across the street.  So we did.

car of the guy who told us to check out the show

There were some great muscle cars and other fun classics.  And there was this great custom car all decked out in POW symbolism.

We had a great time at the wedding and wish all the best to the new couple.  And though we were quite over dressed, we really enjoyed the car show too.

Have you ever stubbornly fought a fabric to make it into something it was never meant to be?

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