Cos Play, the Eleena Dress

When the themes for Project Run and Play were announced and I read that cos play was all rage, I was a bit baffled. I never heard of it and had no idea what they were talking about. Thank goodness for Facebook friends who enlightened me about the matters. :) I wasn't really interested in sewing along this week, I appreciate the  creativity but it's just not my thing. But then I checked with my good friend Google, and realized traditional ethnic costumes can be re-imagined for cos play was well. So I decided to pay homage to my Ukrainian heritage.

I used my own pattern, the Eleena dress (purchase here) to make it. Before you get all impressed, I didn't do the embroidery this time (I did here and here). The fabric is a hand embroidered table cloth that I bought at a garage sale last summer. The seller was an elderly Greek woman and she sounded exactly like one of the characters from the My Big Fat Greek Wedding movie. She had quite a heavy Greek accent, rolled her 'r's like nobody's business and was delighted to learn that I was a Ukrainian. "Did you marry an American? Tst, tst.. Does he treat you good? Well, than it's ok," :) I had a lot of fun talking to her. 

The Eleena dress was inspired by the table cloth. When I saw it, I envisioned a dress just like this and began to work on the pattern.  I am happy to say it turned out just like I imagined! I think the Eleena pattern works well for the fabric. I paid $ 2.00 for it, bleached a few stains out and finally made it. 

This might be my favorite make. I love how the embroidery looks very similar to a traditional Ukrainian costume. The embroidery and the look differs depending on the region, but this type of embroidery is typical of central Ukraine, where I am from. The head piece is traditionally made from fresh flowers, but we just used a store bought. :) 

Evelyn loves the dress. She stood next to me while I was sewing away, practically drumming her fingers. She went for a nap wearing it. There was no way I could make her change into pajamas. I learned to choose my battles when dealing with three year olds. 

Love the back! I tried hard to match the design. It was almost impossible to do, since it wasn't exactly symmetrical, but I think I did well. 

I created a Facebook group for Coffee+Thread patterns. If you sew with my patterns, I would love you to join!