The Moonrise Kingdom Dress (finally)

Yes, I'm wearing my saddle shoes because Suzy is wearing a pair in the movie trailer.

 I've been pretty busy studying for my exams next week so I haven't had much of a chance to blog lately. I finally managed to take a picture of my finished Moonrise Kingdom inspired dress. It was taken inside and it's pretty lopsided but it had snowed outside.

See?

The pattern I used for the dress was Butterick 5317 from the late 60s. I made quite a few changes. I redrafted the collar, and the sleeves, drafted some cuffs, shortened it a lot, put the zip in the back and left off the faux pockets.

In the trailer for Moonrise Kingdom Suzy looks like she's wearing a rope or something tied around her waist. I tried my dress with a belt but it went all bunchy so I decided it looked better without it.

I quite like the finished product but the fabric is a pain. If you look at it wrong it creases. For some reason it was fine when I was sewing it, but then as soon as I put it on it it started wrinkling like crazy. I ironed it just before I took the photo and you can see it's already pretty wrinkled. 

Summer of '65

When I saw the trailer above for Moonrise Kingdom I wasn't that interested in the film but the dress that Suzy wears  made me pause and re-watch it several times. To be honest, I'm not a Wes Anderson fan so I won't be going to see the movie. It looks aesthtically pleasing but the self-conscious quirkiness of his films don't appeal to me. I love the dress though and am determined to make my own version.  

I think the orange version may actually be tiny orange and white checks

 She has the same design in different colours. I think I like the orange version best.
I would guess that the dress has no waist seam. It looks like she's got a piece of string or something tied around her waist.

Yellow

This one looks like some sort of textured pique type fabric

I bought this pattern off trademe because it has the right shape, although it's got princess seams which I don't think Suzy's dress does. I will have to re-draft the collar and draft some longer sleeves and cuffs. I'll leave the faux pockets and the stripe off the front and change the zip to the back (the zip is covered by the white stripe). 

I have this medium weight orange cotton that I bought at Arthur Toye in Wellington. The fabric is called Mary Quant which is pretty perfect for making a 60s style dress. If this one goes well I might have to make a yellow one and a pink one too.