Marimekko Shift Dress

On a trip to my local flea market earlier this year, I was lucky enough to find some pieces of vintage Marimekko fabric at a reasonable price.  Usually when I buy fabric like this, I never use it- instead I hoard it for “the perfect project, “ which never comes along.

Silly, right?

So this time I let myself buy the fabric with the caveat that I had to use at least some of it to make something.  I decided to start with my favorite of the fabrics, and to really make the fabric shine, I chose to make a simple shift dress.

Project

Marimekko Shift Dress

From the Front

From the back

It has been a great summer dress-it keeps you cool, and can be dressed up or down. I love the way the fabric design works!

Pattern

Burda Style Cap Sleeve Shift Dress #130, originally published in the January 2010 Burda Style magazine as “Boatneck Shift Dress.

Materials

2 1/8 yards vintage 1966 Marimekko “Keisarin Puutarhassa” cotton fabric, designed by Kaarina Kellomäki.  The name of the fabric translates to "The Emperor's Garden" in English.

Notes

- I added some length to the dress to make it work-appropriate.

- I understitched the neck and sleeve edges for a nice clean finish.

What did I learn?

Prior to this, I had never made a lined dress.  I did lots of research on “how to,” and found that there are many different methods.  I went with the  “line the sleeves separately first, then sew in the lining for the dress body at the neck, then slip stitch the sleeve lining and the body lining together at the armscye. It worked out just fine.

Working with Bemberg lining was quite an experience- I found it to be somewhat unruly.  Is there a trick to it?

Still some Marimekko fabrics left!