polka dot deadstock

In September of 2021, I came across the most incredible reversible polka dot jacquard fabric tucked away in one of my favorite deadstock warehouses. It was remnant fabric from an extremely high end (and my personal favorite hehe) fashion houses and I actually immediately recognized it. As a reminder for those of you who haven't heard me ramble on and on about fabric - deadstock refers to fabric that is essentially 'left over,' 'extra' or 'unused.' It can be from large fashion houses, small mills, honestly anywhere - but the danger it poses is that it can end up in landfills if not properly recycled or up-cycled.

When I found this particular deadstock fabric it was love at first sight and I purchased it immediately - some people impulse buy shoes, I impulse buy fabric (well, and shoes). But, with only 30 yards on the roll, I was concerned about how few pieces we could make. For reference, most MAE dresses take between 2-5 yards per piece, so if you do some quick math that means that on average we would make less than 10 pieces total.

The roll sat in my studio for over a year and a half (which when you have a very small studio is a long time), while I tried to decide on the absolute perfect styles for it. I knew I wanted to play with the reversible nature of the fabric, so I began sketching into multiple ways to colorblock the dots. I must have sketched 20 combinations of our abbie dress with all different placements of polka dots.

Bottom Line: if this drop was a game show, the tag line would be:

30 yards, 3 styles, who will get a piece?

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