the dress is done!!

I don't have a picture of the finished dress yet, but I finished it in time to wear it Friday night.

After the previous post, I took off the sleeves and cut 1" off of the cap. I also attached the lining to the zipper, hand-stitched the flanges to the bodice front and finished the hem of the dress and lining. Right now, the lining hangs free and I put a thread chain on the vent to hold the lining in place. I will either add two more thread chains at the side seams or permanently attach the lining to the hem - I haven't decided yet.

The dress was a hit and the party was a lot of fun. There are several pictures of me in the dress and as soon as I get them from my coworkers I'll post one. I'll also post a photo of the custom-made jewelry that a coworker made for me.

progress!!!!!

I've made significant progress on the dress. Here is what I have so far:



I am really struggling with the sleeves - the sleeve cap it came with just doesn't cut it so I really need to figure out a better way to make it work. I am using the stiffest netting I can find, but I have a few ideas I'm going to try to see if I can get a poofier sleeve cap.

I also found shoes!!! I have spent every day this week working long hours at a property 30 minutes from home and haven't had time to really work on the dress or even look for shoes. Tonight was my last night of the off-site work and to celebrate I stopped at Dillards on my way home and found these:



Because the dress is a plain wool crepe, I wanted something with more pizzazz for the jewelry and shoes. These shoes are just the ticket.

I had 30 minutes yesterday...

and I was able to accomplish quite a bit! I got home around 10pm from my class and couldn't sleep so I went into the newly re-organized sewing room (more on that later) and began work on my Glaxy-inspired dress. I don't have pictures of my progress, but so far all I did were baste the darts. Because I made a few modifications, I wanted to make sure the darts were in the correct spot. They turned out pretty good.

I still need to press and cut out the lining (I'll do that tonight) and decide if I want to underline or interface (or neither) the bodice. I am going to play around with a couple of options tonight before I do anything more with the bodice.

I also still need to finish up some Christmas gifts - I have some machine embroidery work, some quilting work and a shirt that need to be made. So much to do and so little time. I've decided I'm going to devote as many evenings as I can to getting all of this finished.

off to a good start

Since I had decided on the Galaxy-inspired Vogue dress for my upcoming company holiday party, I needed to make sure that the style would suit me. Tuesday after work I made my first mock-up. I need to make a few tweaks to the length of the bodice and the flanges, I'm also going to raise the neckline by 1". I don't like the straight skirt on my figure, so I am going to play around with some other skirt options.

Next was the task of finding fabric. I knew I wanted a dark blue of some sort, but couldn't make up my mind as to the exact type of fabric I wanted. I went back and forth over several choices (tafetta, a satin microfiber, stretch satin, wool) and because I want something more versatile than a party dress typically is, I decided on this wool crepe from Vogue Fabrics


I ordered it late in the afternoon last Friday and it arrived yesterday. It is an even prettier color than the picture suggests - darker and with more of an aqua hue. It's stunning. Tonight I'm going to play around with pre-treatment options.

Tomorrow, my mom is coming to Reno for the day and I hope to get the rest of my fitting tweaks onto paper so I can get started. My goal is to have the dress completed over the 4-day Thanksgiving holiday.

For jewelry, I've enlisted the assistance of a coworker. While I love making jewelry, I just don't have the time with all of the other projects I have lined up for the holidays. My inspiration was this necklace from White House | Black Market:

There are going to be an assortment of black, dark grey, light grey and clear Swarovski and Czech crystals and glass pearls. So the necklace and earrings are taken care of.

Now for the remaining accessories...I still need to decide on shoes and a belt. I have time, the party isn't for 3 weeks and I have some black patent pumps that I could wear if all else fails.

my mojo is returning

It's been SO long since I've been in the sewing room. So long, in fact, that it has turned into a temporary storage room for my husband. Not for long!! He is in the process of returning my sewing room to me as I type this. My family and his parents are all going to be visiting this weekend, so we need the room, but it also happens to coincide with my mojo returning!!

I have been slowly starting to work on Christmas gifts for the family. This year I decided to make good use of the three new machines (embroidery, sewing and serger) that I have purchased in the past year and make most of the gifts we are giving to friends and family. I have been ramping up that, but I also need a dress for my company's upcoming holiday party. The party is December 12th and this is what I am leaning towards:



I'm going to start working on a muslin of view E and see if it works on me. I'm leaning towards a sapphire blue color, but I have no idea of the fabric yet.

OR I have several strapless "party dress" patterns with fuller skirts that may work, and for something like that I'd be looking for a cross-dyed sapphire/black with a black velvet or faux fur shrug.

Any other pattern ideas??? I definitely want something fun and I'm just not completely sold on the idea that the Roland Mouret knock-off will look as good on me as it does on so many others.

Next, I'll have some Christmas gifts to share and some possible SWAP ideas - the extended timeframe might actually make it possible for me to complete and I need some new work clothes.