Vintage inspiration: 70s Full circle vintage swing dress

So excited about today's project.....my friend Brenda O showed me a couple of vintage inspired photos...PS...she's a huge vintage fan and has the most amazing collection of clothes...you can visit her ebay shop too. I saw one of the dresses and challenged myself to design one...thank God my new needles came today...coz I was on my last needle and gladly postman Pat turned up with them. I was literally staring out the window at the roadside pretty sure if he had not turned up with them...i would have phoned the needle shop frantically.......enough of the needlegate saga...back to the dress...so I made this dress...and yes...as usual.....with African print for the swing skirt. I had this old top that I was on the verge of throwing it out(poor thing) but I decided to give it another chance. I used it for the top part of the dress.So to give the skirt volume and that balloon effect... I created a mesh skirt for the underneath...this works wonders...truly and honestly... I think every gal and lady should invest in a swing skirt or dress...it adds some class to your wardrobe....but that's just my advice..you do not need to follow it...but try it though.... It turned out really lovely. I customised one cuff and one part of the collar with the same African print that I used on the skirt....it worked...yayyyy....PS: I had to use a wide elastic belt so you have that skinny waist effect too....anyway enjoy it.....

This is the mesh skirt I made to give the dress that volume effect...you don't need to use it,,,,the dress will still have volume however not as much.

Sorry for the "not very clear pictures" ....this is the sleeve of the dress that I africanprintfabricized (i know!!! this word doesn't exist) but you get the picture..heeehhheeee....notice the collar and sleeve on the opposite sides....i thought it would be too much if I did both sides and both collars..yawn...boring...im thinking this gives it more character....what do you think??

The beautiful needles graced me with their presence...yayayyyyy.....xx

This was the other dress that I made a while back but I felt it lacked vavavoom.....it kinda lay on the body like a blanket or something.....to spruce it up...i stiched the middle part of the dress...believe me these pics do no justice....its my best piece yet and I am going to rock the bejees out of it.....if you want to see proper pics....call me for a viewing or I can send you a video of it....

The black dress above is not made by Akiiki..its just my beautiful inspiration...might make more of these..we'll see....xxx Thanks for reading....