Monday 14 December 2015

Art Teacher Dress

When I was doing A level Art I had an art teacher who cultivated the eccentric art teacher image. She wafted around wearing a dark blue loose fitting art overall, strings of beads and a loose wispy bun. I don't remember her ever actually teaching me anything.  Instead I was just left to paint innumerable still lifes.  She would just hand over some money and send me to buy aubergines for my still life, always pronouncing it in a cod french accent.  Once I arrived at art college it became rapidly apparent that I had been taught nothing at A level, except how to stretch out a trip to the greengrocer's shop into an excellent skiving opportunity. 

Any how, this latest make is a dress, called the Art Teacher Dress.  It is from Autumn/Winter Ottobre 2014.  I had completely overlooked this pattern until recently.  A number of little seeds planted in my mind, I have a love of sack dresses and the ease with which they make an everyday outfit.  I recently read this post on anti-fit fashion on http://meandorla.co.uk/  I saw some lovely sack style dresses on the Toast website.   I have been pinning sack dresses.  Then I was in a shop with a friend and saw similar sack dresses. They were selling for over £50 so I had a little think to myself, went home and had a skim through my Ottobre collection to see what I could find.

 The dress is deliberately oversized.  It has bust darts,and small back neck darts and a back zip. It was a very quick and simple make, giving a satisfied glow.  I was able to trace the pattern on a friday night, and cut the fabric. I was finishing the sewing on sunday night. The dress has front in seam pockets which I love.  They are cut as part of the front top and bottom pieces.  I used some dotted denim from ebay to make this dress.  From the way it washes and irons I would say this is denim/ poly mix.

I love the ease of wearing this dress. Just pull it on and go.  No thinking.  I love no thinking,  I know it is shapeless but right now shapeless is how I feel.  I made it quite short to compensate for the shapelessness.
I actually have made another version but will have to share that another day. How do other people feel about sack dresses and shapelessness?

13 comments:

  1. Love your sack dress. I really love the length, and that fabric is so very cute! :) I am also loving shapelessness at the moment, it makes going to work even if I want to stay in bed more approachable, and that is always a good thing. Actually I just finished a sweater knit dress based on my every favorite sweater dress Heather from Tamanegi Kobo. So a definite YES to shapelessness.

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    1. Oh I'd like to see your sweater knit dress. X

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  2. It looks very Mod to me! I like it - break out the oversized sunglasses!

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    1. Ha ha, I think my daughter broke my last two pairs of big sunglasses! X

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  3. I love it. Juts my kind of thing.
    Leanne xx

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  4. Lovely, just the right length to balance the shapelessness - and denim dots! It looks a bit like a woven Lola, so I wholeheartedly approve. ;-)
    I'm a bit on the chubby side, which is exaggerated by shapelessness, so I get my comfort facto with knits. Lola over leggings is my current uniform. :-)

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  5. Lovely, just the right length to balance the shapelessness - and denim dots! It looks a bit like a woven Lola, so I wholeheartedly approve. ;-)
    I'm a bit on the chubby side, which is exaggerated by shapelessness, so I get my comfort facto with knits. Lola over leggings is my current uniform. :-)

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  6. I recognise the 'art teacher' you describe. It's definitely a look that takes more cultivating than the finished appearance suggests ;) Psonally, I love these type of dresses for the freedom they offer, but look terrible in them due to my large bust, there was at last measure 10 inches between bust and waist measurement so you can imagine how that looks! I can do a more fitted version with princess seams, which is sadly not as comfortable. Yours looks fab, I bet it will get a lot of wear over the festive season! Happy Christmas for when it rolls around xx

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  7. It's the sort of thing that I would happily wear every day... and that can't be a bad thing can it! :)

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  8. I like it! I love a sack dress, so I don't have to futz with fit. They are probably not my "best" look, but I do feel more comfortable in them.

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  9. Love it! Sometimes, we all need to wear a sack dress ;) I think that they look very stylish and fantastic with tights.... and fantastic for post holiday food wear ;)

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  10. I love the look of this, and the pocket placement. I made my first 'sack' dress last summer and I love it, so comfy and easy to wear. Feeling comfortable in my clothes is my top priority and I'd sya that if you feel comfortable with what you're wearing, chances are it looks good too!

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