Of all the clothes I have made this summer this cabana stripe dress is my favorite! I love the stripes. I mean really, really love the stripes! It reminds me of yellow umbrellas you see in European resort towns.
I don’t usually gravitate towards the color yellow. I never thought it looked good on me. However, I spotted this fabric at Ikea of all places, and decided I needed it. At the time I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it but, it’s just so bright and fun I had to have it.
My initial thought was to make a pair of pants. The photo below was my inspiration. However, not only are pants my least favorite thing make, the idea of trying to match all the stripes on the side seams gave me anxiety. So I opted for a dress.
Pattern – Cabana Stripe Dress
So this dress is another hack/mash-up of a few different patterns. The bodice is Mccalls 7602 view A minus the ruffle and the flounce. It’s the same pattern I used to make this dress. The only difference is that I sized down one size this time. The cup size in the palm print dress is a little too big. Originally I used a C cup #wishfulthinking, but I actually needed the B cup.
The skirt is New Look 6193. I have used this a bunch. It’s one of my favorite skirt patterns. It comes together fast and there are no waist darts which would make matching the strips easier. That is until I cut it out and attempted to sew it.
Sewing – Cabana Stripe Dress
Even though the pattern only consists of three pieces I couldn’t get the stripes on the side seams to line up even though I cut the back pattern pieces along the same color stripes as the front. So I decided to cut two front pieces and and then cut one in half (making it the back) for the zipper. And there you have it – matching side seam stripes.
This might not be a big deal to most people. Some people might think “the stripes don’t match so who cares?”, or you might not eve notice. However, I growing up in a family of women who sewed this is kind of a big no, no.
If you buy a striped garment and the stripes line up on all of the seams it’s a quality piece of clothing. It’s also probably an expensive item. Most clothing companies don’t bother matching stripes or any kind of pattern, because it’s not cost effective, You need, and ultimately waste, more fabric in order to match any kind of pattern.
Sometimes it’s not possible to match stripes all the time. The stripes the bodice don’t all line up because of the bust darts. Also because it wraps across the front. This didn’t bother me too much. I managed to line up most of them and that was good enough for me. I also used some white piping around the waist to break up all the yellow.
The ruffe is about 9″ long. I cut it along the the stripes to be sure it would match up. When I sewed all the stripes I pinned the fabric along the stripe line and then sewed just the part where the stripes matched to be sure they weren’t crooked. Then I went back and sewed the rest of the pattern piece.
Styling – Cabana Stripe Dress
I didn’t do too much to style this dress. It pretty much speaks for itself. I added a pair of white strappy sandals, a white clutch and some yellow earrings. You could also dress it down with a denim jacket, some white sneakers, and a straw bag.
Thanks for reading! Hope you’re having a good week.
Photos by – Chloejane Photo + Film