I have a tendency to dress like a total slob at home. In fact, on more than one occasion I have been mistaken for homeless or at least indigent and been offered food by kind strangers.
So occasionally I swear I’ll reform. I’ll throw away a few of the more egregious old ratty tee-shirts and burn a pair or two of wretched khakis. But I usually end up looking like this again pretty soon:
But I think I made one resolution that will actually stick. Last summer I started making myself a couple of lightweight el-cheapo cotton sundresses for wearing around home. I call them my “sweatin’ dresses,” and they’re little more than a glorified bathrobe that one could appear in public wearing without much shame. It’s based on a modification of New Look 6674, which is the same pattern I used to make my swanky orange silk wrap dress.
Only these dresses aren’t swanky. They’re the sort of thing a girl can wear in the garden, or while cleaning house, or riding around the alleys with a dog in tow. Just crappy cheap cotton calico, suitable for getting grubby and throwing in the washing machine and starting all over again.
This is the first and ugliest of the three. Perversely, it is my favorite. It is everything a housedress ought to be. Unalluring, busy enough to not show stains much, and totally comfortable.
Red gingham for a bit of Minnie Pearl flair. And y’all know how much I dig the Minnie Pearl style.
The third one I finally finished up today. I cut it out sometime last summer but kind of ran out of enthusiasm for the project after doing the first two. But here it is, in all its twee, flowery glory:
That contrasting floral print theme gives it a bit of a Laura Ashley feel. I almost feel like I should be wearing a floppy sun hat along with this dress.
Anyway, I was sorting out my summer clothes yesterday and putting up my woolly carapaces for the season, and I threw out another round of disgusting, shreddy, horrible old tee-shirts and two pair of shorts that had really gotten beyond belief, so maybe I’ll present a little bit more presentable exterior this summer.
I’ll try for a little while, at any rate.
I would totally wear one of these! Love the cut of them.