My idea of a perfect 4th of July dress is bright, colorful, cool, comfy and cute. Which brings me to this dress. 

My dress is inspired by this Mara Hoffman dress that retails for $425.

My dress started with the fabric. I lucked up and found a fabric that was very similar to the one used in my inspiration dress to give me a real "See It! Sew It! Style It!" moment. It's this multicolored bold striped cotton from Mood Fabrics.com. Unfortunately, this fabric is so amazing that it's sold out. The good ones always sell fast.

To achieve my inspiration dress, it was all about the empire style bodice.

I had to reach way back in my pattern filing cabinet and dig out 10 year old McCall Patterns 5381, that's been long discontinued.

The first thing I need to do was to modify the bodice. I cut the size 14. The bodice came in two parts: there are pieces that look like bra cups and the overlay pieces that tie in the front.

I omitted that bra cup pieces and cut 4 pieces of the overlay instead, the additional 2 pieces are the lining. I shortened the ties to 6 inches. And I created the cutout in the CF of the skirt.

For the skirt pieces, I left the length as it was. I wanted a length that was shorter than a maxi, but slightly longer than a midi. I like the length where the dress was hitting on the model in the inspiration photo.

I omitted the zipper. Since my bodice is open, it allowed me enough room to slide the dress on over my head. And I also widened my straps to one inch wide.

I could've cut the back of the skirt on the fold, but I cut 2 instead. I wanted the stripe pattern to appear more balanced.

And I finished my dress with a blind 2 inch hem.