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Friday, May 30, 2014

Inspiration: Removable Halter Collar Dress

I have a bad habit of stalking the new arrivals on Modcloth. It can be an expensive addiction (damn all those cute shoes!), but it also yields lots of retro dress inspiration. When this yellow check number popped up yesterday, I had to take a closer look.

The cool thing about it is the removable halter. Lots of retro dresses have removable halters, sure, but I've never seen one that buttons on at the waist. (Usually, they have hidden buttons inside the neckline.)

(Hmm, what's with the hoodie-esque drawstring ties? Do not want.)

Upon closer inspection, there seems to be vertical rows of buttons up the bodice, along where the princess lines would be.

So if you chose to remove the halter, you'd have cute decorative buttons on your now-strapless dress. (Though you'd have to be careful with that button placement to avoid unfortunate nipple-button syndrome.) There's shirring at the waistline and back. I wish I knew if there were boning--there should be, but sometimes ready-to-wear dresses rely on shirring and that gross sticky rubberized elastic to hold up a strapless dress.

The other cool thing about the design is the rockabilly-inspired halter collar. I like the dramatic proportions of the lapels.

This is giving me great ideas for ways to spice up a sundress. I'd love to try my hand at draping a removable halter collar like this one!

14 comments:

  1. This is such a pretty dress and I love the color. I definitely want to try the shirring technique on the Shirt dress from your book. It looks super comfy. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  2. I really like how modest it is too, I mean in the bust area, I guess most people wouldn't think baring your back and shoulders is exactly modest..

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  3. It's a fun design! Agreed about the wierd strings, which make no sense at all.

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  4. This is darling! I do the same thing with ModCloth. I can't afford any of it so I just drool and wish I had the time to recreat everything I see :)

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  5. This IS super cute! I love that a modern clothing designer thought to do this vintage-inspired detail on the dress. It makes it more versatile, though I'm with you in hoping it's boned! I hate those rubberized elastic shirring numbers, too. So risky.

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  6. On the other hand, if you don't wear leather, ModCloth is a GREAT place to get cute shoes on a budget, and they have pretty awesome sales on dresses sometimes, too! I just snagged a pair of adorable "Dance Instead of Walking" heels to wear with the dress I'm sewing for my dad's wedding--$40! (I also got what I actually went to the site to find--a belt to wear with aforementioned dress for less than the cost of hair canvas + buckle that my dress pattern recommended.)

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  7. I've just stumbled upon your blog. And I have to say your blog is adorable. I've received a sewing machine for Christmas and I am looking foreword to using it too ;) I will definitely visit you for inspirations and tutorials. Have a great weekend <3

    It would be great if you'd visit my blog, too.

    www.thankstofashion.com
    www.bloglovin.com/en/blog/6344345

    XX from Vienna,
    Mahshid مهشید



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  8. Oooh, that's cute! My daughter is a Modcloth freak so I go on their site a lot. Remember when Sew Weekly used to have the Make This Look feature? Most of the dresses were from Modcloth....I loved it so much! http://www.makethislook.com/. I wish you would make something like this -- what fun!

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  9. I wish you hadn't mentioned the shoes on Modcloth. I really didn't need yet another vice......

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  10. I love the concept of a dress that has alteration possibilities! I am fascinated by vintage patterns for collar dickies and changeable cuffs! Recently Laura Mae at Lilacs and Lace is showing beaded collars/cuffs which can be removed. Gorgeous. It would be fun to replace the gingham halter collar with a crisp white one, and maybe change the shape of the lapels for variety. You could topstitch in a contrasting color, add embroidery or beading, or trim with rickrack. Oooo.... or what about a sailor collar with a contrasting knotted tie and applied soutache braid? Cute!!

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  11. This comment is not specifically related to this post, but I wanted to thank you for your great three-part tutorial on drafting a Peter Pan collar. I used this tutorial to add a collar to a tunic that I just made and was very happy with the way it turned out. Thank you so much for the clear directions :)

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  12. I think with the button placement there are a lot of opportunities for making the changeable accessories for this dress. WendyBee mentioned different types of collars. What about doing frilly apron-esque straps? I think this dress has a lot of really cool possibilities that every wearer could design her own style around. How cool. I would love to have such a versatile dress in my wardrobe.

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  13. I love the versatility of this dress. Like WendyBee stated, there are tons of possibilities for collars and maybe even some fun apron-esque straps. I would love to have a dress like this in my wardrobe.

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  14. A great inspiration, but what I like best ist the fabric!! Wish I could find something like this, greetings Ottilie

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Thanks for your comments; I read each and every one! xo Gertie