· Just My Kind of Patriotic Dress ·

I hope all of my stateside readers had a nice 4th of July weekend!  Our weather was wonderful and for the first time in years, I had an occasion-appropriate dress!  I tend to steer clear of red, white, and blue as I don't like looking so patriotic on a daily basis.  This dress certainly doesn't fit the patriotic color scheme, but thematically it's just about perfect. ;-)

I've always thought this 50 states fabric from Hobby Lobby was fun and quirky, but it wasn't until making another outlandish novelty print dress (the BBQ dress) that I realized how much I really needed this addition to my wardrobe.

Summer just begs for wacky novelty prints, and well.... I'm happy to oblige. ;-)

After making my "fauxlero" (faux bolero) cow dress earlier this year, I was eager to use the pattern (custom-drafted by me) again!  I love the way it turned out, and I think it's a great design for this fabric.  I had so many options for different colored ric-rac that would have been perfect, but Plain Old Black ended up being the best accent.  The large size ended up worked perfectly and showed up best against the busy print; I'm glad I had it on hand, as it's not normally a staple!

This purse is from Tatyana (bonus- it's on sale right now!), and it's a big favorite of mine!  It's hard to beat the price, and so far it's held up really well.  It's more roomy than most "real-vintage" purses I've found, but still looks small. :-)

With a print this busy, I decided to break it up just a bit with decorative pockets.  Like most 1950s dresses, I wanted to echo the design element of the fauxlero bodice so I chose to design my own gently stair-stepped, scalloped pockets.

Of course, the pockets begged to feature specific states.  Only problem was, I was at a loss as to which states to feature!  I've been to too many states to put those on the pockets.  I've been to too few to feature the ones left on the list to see.  There are too many states on my current Bucket List.  There are too many that I've lived in.  There are too many I'm visiting this year.

Eventually I decided to pick the states that correspond to my trips sandwiching the making of this dress.  I went on a trip to Texas in May....

.... and I'm going to Maine this month!  Now, I'll grant you that Texas was much more conducive to highlighting... but I don't mind. ;-)  Now I'll always be able to remember exactly when this dress was made!  Yes, it's entirely un-noticeable to the casual observer, but that just adds to the appeal I think. ;-)

Did any of you make a patriotic outfit this year too?

· Photography by Kathryn ·