Rush dress but surprisingly good dress

If you follow me on Instagram (hayek.m83), you know by now that I have loads of projects in progress. This was NOT one of them.

One of my best friends got married recently, and I couldn't decide whether I wanted a new dress to wear to his wedding or not, and in the end decided not to make one. Until the last day before the wedding that is 👀. But since the time left was one evening, the following set of requirements materialized:
- It has to be a simple quick to sew pattern.
- I have to have this pattern in my collection already.
- I have to have all the required fabrics and supplies.

I looked at what I had and almost gave up until I read a post on burdastyle.com where Meg Healy made herself a dress in one afternoon (you can read it here if you're interested). I didn't want one like hers, but one of the patterns she recommended as a quick sew caught my attention. I had it but didn't pay attention to it because it comes also in a top variation and I've always treated it as one. It's the top below extended into a dress.

It was perfect for a number of reasons:
- It was indeed very simple.
- I already had it printed out to make a top (since last summer but never got around to it...).
- It didn't require any zips or other fastenings.
- I knew that with the right fabric, it can be presentable enough for a wedding.

Hmmm, not bad so far. But how about fabric? A while ago, back in my "fabric shopaholic" days (I'm currently using solely fabrics from my stash until further notice), I went into this shop that looked small, but the narrow façade revealed a looong corridor full of fabrics, and they had a huge sale, everything was for 30 krone! That's like free! I unfortunately don't remember the name of the shop but it's on Brugata. I bought myself 8m of 3 different fabrics. This was one of them.

I had 2m of it, so I had to adjust the flare of the pattern slightly to fit on the available fabric, but it's a negligible amount. And because the fabric is really sheer, I had to fully line it. That was more hacking, clipping and sewing using up completely a bit of leftover viscose I had from a dress I made for my sister. Normally you'd put them together with wrong sides facing, but then the seams of the lining showed through main fabric, so I put wrong side of main on right side of lining, and then they were unnoticeable.

With a wide belt I already had in my stash, it turned out really nice, even though I didn't hem it as I ran out of time 😁, but it almost didn't fray and survived the day like a champion. And with the fullness this fabric gave it looks a bit retro, a bit Marilyn Monroe and I think that's nice. Matched it with black sandals, bag and blazer to finish the look.

I put it back on my dress form after the party hoping it'll annoy the OCDed in me one day and I'll actually hem it...

Pattern: Burda Style 6/2015 #116 lengthened to the knee.
Fabric: Polycotton or polyester (not sure) from this little shop on Brugata in Oslo.
Photos taken in Asker outside Fredtun church. With me in some of the photos is my friend Karen (whom you'll see again soon)