Sunday 22 December 2013

Christmas party dress!

 This dress started as one thing in my head, which has been through many forms to get to what it is now, which is okay, although time consuming. Originally I wanted a princess-seamed bodice with a V-neck to go with the necklace I wanted to wear with a full skirt. Oh and the back folded out.  The pattern I used for the bodice was the same one that I used for my prom dress. I ironed this dress throughout the whole process like I never have before. And hopefully you can tell.
I went through a whole drafting process for the back and then re-read Gerties tutorial and realised all I needed to do was fully line the bodice, cutting the back pieces out of the fashion fabric and just folding them back. The tutorial I used to fully line my bodice was from here. The rest of the bodice lining was a cream cotton curtain lining (thrifty, huh? ;)). I didn't have time to line the skirt but hopefully I will do that at some point in the future. The zipper I hand-picked as usual, although an invisible one would probably have looked better.
I bought 2m of this fabric when we were in France during the summer holidays. Unfortunately my knowledge of french names for different types of fabric is zilch so I have no idea what it is. I can tell you that the right side is textured and the wrong side is flat if that helps?
The compulsory rattling of the present 
The skirt I first cut out and sewed together was pretty much a circle skirt in four pieces, but the center front seam stood out like a soar thumb against the bodice seams so that went. Then I cut out the pencil skirt which I fitted for School Skirt No.1 and attached that to the bodice. This at least matched the side seams and looked alright. However the bodice was not long enough for my long waisted torso so the skirt was higher up than it was fitted to making the fit of the dress slightly iffy. But, I was leaving in 1 hour so it had to do. I'm still pretty pleased with it overall.
peekaboo!!
So, that sums up my Christmas party dress okay I think. This was the one that I wore when I recieved my new singer (sob). It was going to be the first of many, but time is ticking so unfortunately it may be the one and only of 2013 :(
Right. I need to finish cutting out the pieces for dads shirt. I WILL get it finished in time for Christmas, I WILL!!!
Thanks for reading!
Lauren x