Reunion Dress: Final Photos

Here are a few photos of the Reunion Dress "in action." I had trouble getting a photo that really represented the color well. The dress is really a silvery-blue, but the flash makes it look much darker blue...and shinier. This is probably the best representation of the color:


Here it is ready to go:


The flash makes it look shiny and wrinklier than it really was. And here we are at the reunion:


A few notes about the dress and it's construction:

1. The silk organza underlining kept the dress from wrinkling, so it stayed fairly fresh looking all night.
2. The underlining also meant that there was no give to the fabric at all. Where the denim version would "grow" a bit during the day, this was the exact opposite. Had I been smart, I would have added some additional ease across the bust and hips, but never having sewn with silk before, I did not anticipate it. In the future, however, I will know!
3. I prewashed my silk. It took away a bit of the crisp, metallic shine but an added advantage to washing it meant that it would not spot if it got wet. Which was good, because I had a drink splashed on me in about the first 2 seconds that I was at the reunion.
4. I used the same underlining on the hem facings that I did on the rest of the dress. This, combined with the binding to finish the edge had an effect similar to using horsehair in a hem...it was very stiff and held it's shape.
5. I added a tiny snap to the end of the belt so that it wouldn't flop around like the denim version. The denim version is long enough to tie rather than just buckle, but I didn't want such a casual look with this dress.
   

Overall, I am very pleased with the way the dress turned out, and would certainly use the same techniques on other garments...I would just add some more ease (or just wear two layers of Spanx).

Now...on to other projects (finally!). I have a couple cut out and ready to go, and they have been languishing while I finished the dress.