So, this dress. I’m calling it the Laurel Canyon Halter Top Dress. Well, it happened by accident. Happy accident, it seems. You know how everyone in the sewing community seems to be strolling around in flowing caftans and looking so casual and womanly? Basically, the “living their best life” look. Yeah, I wanted that.
So, I stitched myself a caftan in this flowery orange fabric. Nothing, I’m telling you NOTHING has ever screamed “I am wearing a lifeless sack” as loudly as this caftan. It made me literally laugh out loud because it was so very sad. The emotions strode right past sad into hilarious. Apparently, caftans don’t work on me. Lesson learned.
I set the failed caftan aside but it kept bugging me that I’d wasted so much fabric. I knew I needed to do something to salvage it but it was sitting in the discard pile for the moment. I moved on.
As it happens, I’ve been on a bit of a Joni Mitchell kick and recently watched the documentary ‘Laurel Canyon’. I’ve long harbored a love of old-school 70s style. So, it suppose it was only natural that my brain mashed it all together into this Laurel Canyon halter top dress.
The transformation started while I was making my Barrett Bralette from Madalynne. I noticed that it wouldn’t take much to turn the Barrett Bralette pattern into a great bikini top (something I also plan to do). That got me thinking about those fabulous halter tops of the 70s California hippies and it occurred to me that I could put a halter top on top of the caftan skirt!
Boom! The laurel canyon halter top dress was born! It’s a marriage of the Barrett Bralette pattern hack and a discarded caftan gone wrong. Who knew? And, I’m thrilled.
The funny part is, I don’t need to wear a bra with this dress! I mean, it’s built in already?! I fully lined the halter top piece using a denim blue rib knit I had in my stash.
It’s got it all. Comfort, ease, 70s styling and it’s ready for outdoor living.
The color combination is a bit odd. I wouldn’t normally pair orange, purple and navy denim but they work for some reason. It’s the beauty of working with what you’ve got! Sometimes it just all comes together.
The whole fiasco/joyous process got me on a bit of a halter top kick. I’m hoping to make a few more as tops and another Laurel Canyon Dress as well. It’s important to have easy, throw on dresses in these crazy times.
Oh! I almost forgot! Yes, I temporarily colored my hair purple. You may have seen hints of it in previous posts. It’s a conditioner called Overtone that washes out after a while. It set really well in my blond highlights so it’s stuck around longer than I expected. If you can’t color your hair during these Covid-times, when can you? Right?! I like it more than I expected to but think I’ll go back to blond soon. Who knows.
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