So his company Christmas party was last weekend and I wanted to make a dress for the occasion. He mentioned my blog here to a few of his co-workers, so they know I sew (Hi Jessie!) and I figured I had to live up to my reputation of Crazy McSews-A-Lot & go to the party in something I made myself. Plus Presser Foot has their Mad Men Sew Along going on right now too, so I knew now was the time to make this vintagey pattern.
I've had this in my stash for years. It's so sexy but in a modest way, don't you think? I've wanted to make it, but never really had an occasion for it until now. I'm glad for that because I have to say... this pattern is not that great. The dress is nice, but the drafting of the pieces is just off. I don't know why because I don't know enough about pattern drafting to be able to explain myself, but it was just weird. I feel that if I had made this dress earlier without as much experience under my belt, I would have ripped it off my body Hulk style and burned it in the fireplace. I was able to make this dress work, but not without much fretting that it would look like ass.
This dress has a faux wrap bodice, which I like. It didn't lay as well as I'd have liked it to, but I would say that's me being pretty nit picky. It looks just fine.
I made this from a silk dupioni, and I love, love this fabric and color. It's very thin and light though, so I underlined it with organza to give it more body. I also wore a slip underneath.
A sideways look at the inside of part of the dress front. See the white organza underlining?
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, underlining is when you sew a lining to your fashion fabric (I used organza, but you can also use china silk and other lining-esque fabrics), and then you treat those two layers as one single piece of fabric. In other words, the lining fabric almost serves as a sew-in interfacing.
I made a couple of minor changes to the pattern. I dropped the back by about 2", but it's not all that noticeable a difference. I should have taken it a couple of inches lower for a bigger sass factor.
The kick flap in the back lays flat, I swear! I just didn't smooth it for the pic. I also added an invisible zipper. It went in PERFECTLY! Seriously, this is the best job I've ever done on an invisible zipper, ever ever ever!!
I also shortened it because the original pattern hits about mid-shin and that's just way too long for my taste. I would have loved to lower the front of the bodice, but I don't have the skillz.
All in all, I like the dress a lot, but I don't love the dress. We'd maybe go on a second date but there's no love connection. We'll be good friends though. I think it's more because of all the shit it gave me when I put it together - I just can't let that go and enjoy the finished product. You know how it goes.
I'm also knee deep in some other projects -- a quilt for my friend's one year old (it's coming along so well, and I love it!) and I'm sewing stuff for my Modern Quilt Guild's holiday party on Saturday. All I need is more time to get it all done! Here's the back of the quilt. The pattern is from Modern Quilt Workshop (ask Santa for this book if you don't have it already - SO GREAT!) and it came together just beautifully. I'll share more pics of this and my quilt guild swap stuff when I finish.
So, phew!!! That's what I'm up to. Stay tuned because I am participating in Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day and it's gonna be great! Details will be out on Sunday!!! Love and hugs to you all!!
xoxo,
