Back when I got the pillowcases for the famous IKEA skirt, I also bought a Tanja shower curtain that caught my eye from across the store and was conveniently marked down to a fiver.
It’s stayed in my fabric stash ever since, just waiting for the perfect project, which presented itself in the form of this Burda WOF 60s dress from the May 2007 issue. It turned out to be the perfect fabric for this dress, considering that Glastonbury is coming up in a few weeks and I’ve been wanting something special to wear (and let’s face it, if the famous downpours happen again this year, this dress is ready for them!!), and because the pink piping matches my hot pink wellies perfectly.
I chose to line the bust portion with a white cotton bedsheet from our hotel linen stash, and I interlined the rest of the dress since the shower curtain is 100% poyester and I figured soft cotton would be nicer on the skin. I’ve never attempted pipng before, either inserting store-bought let alone making my own piping, so there was definitely a learning curve involved! I made my own piping with some string from the hardware store and bias strips cut from the pink jersey I used in the Pucci tunic. Curse Burda to make the very first seam on the entire dress a piped princess-line bust curve though!!
Since I ended up being at home sick this week, I had some extra down time to give the hem of this dress an extra special treatment. I had a bunch of wide white lace leftover from an eBay purchase that I sewed onto the right side bottom edge of the dress, then trimmed away the excess to reveal the scalloped edge, and then hand stitched the hem on the inside.
Overall, I am deliriously happy with the way this dress fits, moves, and looks. The IKEA shower curtain proved to be the perfect fabric to give this dress a bit of body without resorting to a crinoline, and the print is perfect for hot summery days (like today!). I’ll definitely be taking this to Glastonbury (a nice bonus is that it doesn’t wrinkle!!) and updating photos afterwards.
Interested in more of my Ikea hacks?
Ikea table runner into a skirt and bag
