Is it a curtain? Is it a couch? No, it's my latest DRESS!

This dress is a little different than my other creations.

Why?

 Because it's made out of curtains.

Yes that's right, Julia Bobbin got all 'Maria from the Sound of Music' and got fancy with some curtain fabric.

Ok, so if you come over to my house in the next week you are not going to see big gaping cut-outs missing from our lounge room curtains. I'm pretty sure my husband Robin has set up sensor cameras around all our furnishings ever since he saw me eyeing off our bed linen a few weeks back.

I'm also not the governess of seven children who won't leave the house unless they are all wearing the same out fit.

I bought this fabric from the curtain/upholstery section at Spotlight. I was walking out of the store recently when I walked past that department and out of the corner of my eye spotted this magnificent pattern and I broke out into a sweat!

Firstly, it's bright and colourful.

Secondly, it has stripes. And we all know how Julia Bobbin likes stripes. You can only imagine the sort of joy I now feel when crossing at a zebra crossing. In fact I had only just finished making my 'Flirty Skirty' skirt with stripes when I spotted this fabric.

After standing motionless in the store with smoke coming out of my eyes for more than is socially acceptable (though I'm sure staff at fabric stores are accustomed to these freakish displays) I bounded over to that fabric role and started creepily caressing it. And I KNOW all of you do this too.

I held that bolt of upholstery fabric victoriously in my hands like I was freaking Neil Armstrong on the moon with the flag!

The fabric is super thick and not very breathable, as you would expect for something that is made for windows or couches. But because of this it's also super flattering.

As the fabric had so much structure already I opted for 'quick and easy' and didn't line the dress.

I closed the dress down the centre back with an invisible zipper, and faced the neck seams with bias binding that I had in my stash.

I made cute self-faced cap sleeves with the mustard stripe as the feature. How great is mustard by the way?!!

I made a scooped round neck at both the front and the back which is one of my favourite shapes.

I took extra care to make sure that the stripes matched up as much as possible. 

See how the stripes wrap all the way round?

This type of print can very quickly make a dress look a bit wrong if not matched up properly.

As I've said in a previous post, I have always avoided horizontal stripes in the past as they have a bad reputation for making your backside look ginormous, and I certainly don't need to add any volume to that area.

I am so happy with my recent discovery that with the right fabric and the right cut pattern horizontal stripes can actually work in your favour. I love how this fabric along with the cut of the dress emphasises my natural shape without over exaggerating it.

I live in a country that is rich with fantastic fabric choices thanks to wonderful stores like Tessuti Fabrics and The Fabric Store, but I love that now the options for sewing fabric have just increased! People lock up your curtains, nothing's off limits!

Verdict:  I love how this dress turned out! I love the strong uneven stripes on the dress and the firmness of the upholstery fabric. I've noticed (now) that the prints in the upholstery sections are often full of fun and bright prints which I have a big weakness for, though I do also love my solid prints.

On another exciting note, this week I was the featured seamstress over at Coletterie with my version of the Parfait
It was such a thrill to see me and my dress on such a fantastic blog! Who doesn't love Colette Patterns! If you're curious click on the picture below to see the feature.

So what about you?
Have you made any outfits out of 'untraditional' fabrics like curtains or bed sheets?
Are you shaking your head at me saying 'Oh Julia, I've been doing this for years!'

Leave a comment, I'd love to hear your stories!