I feel pretty, oh so pretty! (Aka. The Floral Cambie)

O hai! I made a Cambie. 

And it makes me do things like this: 

Uh, yeah. This is the most ulta-feminine dress I’ve ever made, and I’m not sure how to feel about it! Its made from a thrifted bedsheet, which should make it totally casual… but somehow even the black border can’t balance out the polkadot/floral/sweetheart girliness. 

To make matters even more fem, I changed it into a princess bodice: 

When I made a muslin, it was clear that the darts were never going to be enough to shape it over the bust. Pinning in some extra darts from the top down helped, but I figured that with only 2cm between the top and bottom darts, i could do it more elegantly with a princess line! I’ve never converted a pattern before, so I’m glad it worked. My sister is *cough* rather more endowed than I, so fingers crossed the princess seams help with the FBA! 

Here’s the back: 

I think it’s a brilliant design: sundress from the front, full coverage in the back! It was a bit scary to sewing in the lining without know if it all fit yet, but it all worked out! As a confirmed “pear”, Sewaholic’s patterns always work well for me! :) 

I cheated a bit with the skirt because I wanted to use the border print. I just hacked off the length of the skirt, gathered it with the serger, and sewed it on! (I’ve actually never done a gathered skirt before… I started out doing Gertie’s “zigzag over string”method, but hated spacing out the gathers. Serging was much less accurate, but fast!

However, even with bust adjustments and re-sewing the straps shorter, the bust still gapes! (Go ahead, take a look up above! I won’t tell! :P) I actually made the straps so short that I had to lower the armpit after the whole thing was finished. Why does it gape? Gaping is NOT ladylike! 

Here’s the problem: Where the heck am I going to wear this dress? It makes me thing of the pretty dresses with giant lace collars I used to wear to birthday paries when I was 8. I love the pattern, but I don’t know how to make it less frou-frou. The black belt was the best I could think of, but I’d welcome accessory suggestions!

By the same token, I have fabric to make another version in a light, drapey faded grey-blue with white polka dots. Is that going to equally girly? Should I ditch the fun gathered skirt and make the more boring a-line? HELP!