What? Not another skull dress!

Yes, another skull dress. I don't do it on purpose, I swear.

I found this adorable stripey skull knit on the clearance table and bought the remainder, not sure what I was going to make. I want to learn to work with knits more, though, since they're so nice to wear.

I dug through my patterns to find something that could support so much... stripeyness. I thought Butterick 5327 was an interesting shape, but the way I'm built, bat-wing styles make me completely waist-less, rather than being nearly waist-less. So I decided to make a tunic out of it to lengthen the whole bodyline. At the same time, I had my eye on Simplicity 2998, and decided to work in a detail from that design.

I started with View C and just extended the lower hem to just past my ass. I went on a hunt for a good, strong pink knit, which I found in a nice rib. I decided to make the strip 4" high, and just long enough to hug my upper thigh area. I gathered the lower edge of the tunic, folded the pink in half, and overlocked the 3 raw edges together. The shape as it came together was pretty good, but those dropped shoulders bothered me. Again, with my build, my shoulders are a bit sloped, so those sleeves were just making me look lost.

I shortened the sleeves and then ran elastic gathers along the shoulder to pull the whole thing into an itty-bitty short sleeve. Then I found a matching pink pre-made bias tape and ringed the armholes – you know I loves me some bias tape, and I wanted to make the pink more highlighted.

So there you have it! I really like the pleat detail at the upper front and back, even though it does get a bit lost on this particular fabric, and the loose neck. It's a super comfy dress, though, and I've worn it at least three times now, including to the Psychedelic Furs (with a big belt) and to a festival last night (with a long-sleeve zipper-front sweater).