Spring Tie-Dye

This dress in influenced by a dress in March Vogue.  The designer is Gregory Parkinson, who, oddly, is not listed on Style.com.  Anyway, the link above will take you to the Vogue photo, at least for now.  It’s a sweet little print that is tie-dyed to give it a bit of an edge, and I just love that look.   The original is much more ornate than mine.

To get the fabric I’d need, I figured I’d check out Metro Textiles.  Metro Textiles has been a bit of an Avalon for me.  I’ve been meaning to go there for at least 5 years, but it’s been too shrouded in mists for me to find it.  First off, they are only open on weekdays, and I am almost never in the city Monday – Friday.  Then, a couple of years ago when I was visiting New York from London, I was all set to go there, only to find that they had moved and I had their old address.  Then, a month or so ago, DH was looking after the kids so I could go into the city on my birthday and I was all excited because I could go to Metro Textiles!  Then when I got there, they had had some pipes burst overnight, to the place was a total wreck.  Kashi and co were pulling out all the bolts and leaving them in piles on the floor according to whether they were wet or not.  I was looking for a sort of saccharine sweet cotton print, and this was pretty close to what I had in mind.  However, it did not occur to me to ask if it was 100% cotton, and when I got it home I realized that it’s a blend.  It still dyed OK, though.  And I STILL feel like I have not really experienced Metro Textiles.

The pattern is based on Burdastyle 1/07 106.  I made the dress in 2 layers, with the gathers on the underlayers.  The top layer is kind of like a tunic.  I tied off the bottom of the dress, then put it in the dye bath.  I used Rit navy, but because of the polyester content, it came out lighter than a true navy.  I like the color, and I like the way the yellow in the print shows through the dye a bit.  I will probably wear it with a belt.

back view

Front with the top layer pulled back so you can see a bit of how the dress is constructed.  The gathers on the underdress are only on the side panels.

Side view