Thrifted Jersey and Netting Dress

I received some blue sports jersey fabric from my MIL.  She found it for next to nothing at the thrift store.  I don't know the exact type of fabric it is, but it was definitely cheap, mens gym short type of fabric.  It's like a stretchy polyester blend.  I, originally, wasn't sure what, if anything I could do with it.  I loved the color and there was a lot of yardage, so I held onto it until an idea came to me.

Fast forward to a day at Joann fabric store.  I have been wanting to try out the lace overlay trend.  I was looking through their clearance rack and I found this black, stretch netting.  It spoke to me … it said, "I can make that cheap, blue fabric look expensive!  So I bought it because I do anything fabric tells me to do.

Here are the fabrics close up:  Nothing fancy.

I used this pattern.  Another favorite of mine.

I cut both fabrics for all the pieces, except the bodice lining, which I just cut the blue.  I serged the black netting onto each piece before sewing the dress together.

Here is how it came out:

Please excuse the back picture.  I didn't zip it all the way up and hadn't gotten the hook and eye latch on yet, but wanted to get the picture of the back done anyway.

(Busy mom, you know)

I like how the black netting gives it a shiny look.  It really classes up the blue gym short fabric.  

It's really comfy and stretches to fit.  I'm not exactly sure where to wear it, but I think it is versatile enough that I can take it from day to evening.  Especially a beach bum like me who rarely dresses all that fancy.

I have some red and purple fabric like this now.  I hope I can find a creative and stylish way to make use of them.  The overlay worked well, so maybe I will give that another go in a different way.

We will see!