African Print Dress

On a recent conversation with my mom, I asked her if she would wear something bright and colourful to which she replied, “The brighter and more colourful, the better’. So this dress is inspired by the challenge my mom gave to me.

I recently bought some African prints fabric. The colour and pattern were so hypnotising to me and it lead me directly to the ‘buy me now’ button. This was a hit and miss situation as half of the fabric were not as vivid as the picture showed but half were better beyond my imagination. Thankfully, this piece was the one which exceeded my expectation. However, I was surprised that African prints were printed in Holland and not in Africa.

I decided to keep the pattern a bit simple so there won’t be a war going on with the pattern and the prints. So I chose a simple raglan sleeve, fitted bodice and a skirt base with an angular feature at the hips. Hopefully this dress will create the illusion of an hour glass figure.

I have removed the shoulder seam from the raglan sleeve to highlight one of the print feature as shown below. I think it nicely ties in the whole pattern from front to back.

My mom has bigger hips (as do most ladies) so by extending the hip width and creating an angular feature ties in quite well with the fitting of the dress too. My mom does not like dresses to be too clingy especially around the hips as she wants to be able to move and sit down comfortably. Knowing her, she would go around town wearing the dress for the whole day so the last thing I want is for her to feel uncomfortable in it.

So this is dress number 3 that I have done this week and probably the final one before I leave for home. I have run out of zips (and energy) so I guess it’s packing time..But maybe, just maybe, I could squeeze in a little something for myself?