Fancy Field Frock

This dress was inspired by a sweater I had seen in the JCrew line for children. If you thought they charged too much for your clothes you haven't seen what they're charging for your kid's. At any rate, this was inspired by them.

It bears a pleated cotton ruffle around the neckline and sleeves. The shape of the neckline was inspired from Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette. I fell in love with the ornate dresses that looked as though they were meant for adults but were worn by the very young.

To offset the dressy look of the ruffles I left the ends unhemmed which left a sort of casual beachy feel. The sleeves have frayed olive green grosgrain ribbons sewn into the seams that tie at the back of the arm. I also added a long row of handmade fabric buttons fastened by handmade loops sewn into the dress.

I named it the fancy field frock since the image of a wild field reminds me the frayed ruffle- rough and unkempt....but still fancy.

As a side note, the creation of this dress went smoother than any I've done before. I'm attributing this to the fact that I carefully planned and wrote out each step before diving into it. A new task that was well worth the time it took, saving me at least one hour on the sofa with the seam ripper.