Pattern: combo of Renfrew by Sewaholic and Vogue 8138 (OOP)
Fabric: sweater knit from Fabric Place Basement
Leggings: DKNY
Boots: Franco Sarto
I don’t own anything designer. Probably the closest designer items I own are a Michael Michael Kors blazer and a Marc by Marc Jacobs iPhone cover. I love looking at designer clothes for inspiration, like the Calvin Klein top I used last year, or even going into Nordstrom and inspecting the inside of garments for construction details and ideas. As I was snooping around my favorite local fabric store, this fabric jumped out at me. It makes me think of the Italian fashion house Missoni, know for their famous zig-zag and geometric knitwear. So, in a sense, the fabric inspired me to make a dress styled like the Missoni dresses I’ve seen in Neiman Marcus, but for a fraction of the $1,000 price they usually retail for (seriously, I made this for under $30).
Knowing I wanted a simple silhouette, like many Missoni dresses, I looked in my stash to see if I had a simple knit dress pattern, but everything I pulled out had some kind of styling to it that wouldn’t lend itself well to this funky print. You know where this is going…
Oh good old Renfrew, how I love you. I took the top of the Renfew pattern and the bottom of my Vogue dress pattern and combined them together at the waist, grading seams where necessary. I had some tweaking to do at the sides to make it a bit more fitted than my Renfrew tops, attached the long sleeves, and hemmed the dress to a shorter length that I’ll be ok wearing in warmer weather, sans leggings. I’m thinking that these colors will make my faux Missoni dress a great transitional garment when the weather decides to get a little warmer.
While I may not have used real Missoni knit fabric for this dress, like Sarah’s version, I still feel like this dress is special and fun to wear. I’m looking forward to getting lots of wear out of this in the coming months!
Where do you look for sewing inspiration?
![Pattern Review: Elisa-lotte Dress [By Hand London]](data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAlgAAAGQAQMAAABI+4zbAAAAA1BMVEUAAACnej3aAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAADRJREFUeNrtwQENAAAAwiD7p7bHBwwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgKQDdsAAAWZeCiIAAAAASUVORK5CYII=)
It looks really nice! I love the color combination. And all that money you saved by making your own version can be used for more fabric, right?
Hahaha I love your thinking!
It looks great, and you look lovely in it. I love the color of the fabric. Who cares about using authentic fabric? Why pay for a name! 🙂
My feelings exactly 🙂
wow – this is gorgeous! great job.
It came out beautifully! Looks smashing on you!
Thanks so much Diane!
Oooh sew, erm, SO pretty! I love the colors too.
You cheeseball 😉
Love this, it's super cute!
Cute! Looks great on you!
beautiful clothing .maybe you should change your blog's name to "sew right"
Gorgeous dress! I really love the pattern and the style! You did really great work on this! Green/Aqua is such a great color for you! Have you ever tried making any formal sequin dresses? I think you would look great in a dark emerald sequin dress especially for Christmas.
That dress is very Missoni. You did a great job. It looks fantastic on you!