Wednesday’s Project: Aqua Plisse Dress

For this dress, I used the same fabric as for the Aqua Plisse Blouse. It’s a lightweight cotton plisse with a subtle pebbly texture to it, which I found at Hobby Lobby a few years ago. The color is aqua, with a darker turquoise Baroque print.

Aqua Plisse

The pattern is Simplicity 2886 (view A, modified), a sundress with adorable pockets. I dislike sleeveless styles, so I added a short sleeve with a bubble cuff.

Finished Dress

There is a wide empire waistband, which I edged with a pale aqua batiste, same as I edged the sleeves with. In my stash, I found some seed beads in just the right shade of turquoise, so I beaded the empire waist, highlighting the design of the fabric. It turned out really well, although, sadly, you can hardly see the beads from a distance.

Beaded Waistband

Unfortunately, I neglected to make a mockup, so the finished dress doesn’t fit very well. It’s too tight across the back and in the armscyes—even after I let the center back seam out as far as I could. How disappointing! It’s too bad, because I really loved the fabric and the style of the dress. I’ll have to save the pattern and use it again sometime.

Later, I glued some of the seed beads onto a pair of white sandals that I had. It looked really cute, but the beads began falling off the first time I wore them. I guess the glue I used wasn’t appropriate for the faux leather of the sandals.

Beaded Sandals

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Have you ever made a dress that you loved, but couldn’t wear? What about the sandals? Have you tried and failed at an experiment? Share it with us!