This cruise has nothing to do with water. It’s 16 miles of Woodward Avenue, one million people and over 40 thousand vehicles. The cruising is done in cars at the 20th Annual Woodward Dream Cruise

This unique celebration was the first exposure to American culture for our newly arrived International students, most coming to Detroit to study transportation design at the college where I work as an Academic Adviser.  We had a group of 20 MFA and BFA students from Korea, China, India, Germany and Australia  – who had no idea what they were in for.

Of course I had to honor the event with a dress, Vogue’s vintage reissue of 8789, from 1957, view A.

I tried to locate a border print, but didn’t find anything inspiring. After coming across a blue and white seersucker with pink  embroidered cherries, I used pink petersham ribbon to make my own border print.

I happened to find a belt kit at Textile Fabrics while visiting my son in Nashville months ago and this was the perfect time to try it out.

Making the belt was much easier than I expected. The belt backing is a firm plastic, which concerned me for topstitching, but it was a breeze, with no skipped stitches.  It came with silver eyelets, but I used the white which came with the pliers I bought years ago.

The buckle uses a double sided adhesive sheet to adhere the fabric to the buckle. It went on smoothly, with the back popping right on. I want to track down more of these kits, if anyone has a source.

I lined the entire dress with white cotton, which gave the bodice some body and should help eliminate too much stretching from the bias cut. To give the skirt some 1957 fullness, I added gathered tulle to the skirt lining, with a little pink surprise.

It was a fun day at the cruise

The hat is a purchase and is made from a UVA protective fabric and matched the ribbon perfectly, pure luck.

My boss kept taking my picture with random people on the street, the young couple was as sweet as can be.

Love the aqua interior.

So many fabulous cars

50 years of Mustangs.

Back to the Future.

Hopefully our students will start the year with lots of inspiration and don’t think all Americans are crazy.