My 20th high school reunion is on July 17th (if you are doing the math....in 10 days). I wavered and procrastinated, and couldn't decide what I wanted to wear. I finally decided that I wanted a retro-esque dress with full skirt made from the blue silk that I had purchased at Fabric.com when all the Vera Wang fabrics were on sale for $1.95 a yard.
I started by resizing one of the vintage patterns that I bought on Ebay recently:
About half-way through the muslin process I trashed it because needless to say, that full, pleated skirt on these hips?? NOT a good look. So, I decided to go a different route. And then, I dithered. And I wavered. And I procrastinated. And then I dithered some more. Finally I realized...oh, crap! I have less than 2 weeks! So a decision had to be made.
One of the things that I love about the vintage patterns is the shirt-dress styling...but what doesn't work with my shape is a gathered or pleated skirt. I can't even explain how bad this looks! Perhaps one day I will have the courage to don that muslin and have photos taken just to show how wrong this is. But I am not sure I have that kind of courage!
So, what I needed was a shirt dress...but with princess seams as opposed to a pleated skirt.
Enter the Hot Patterns Urbanista Coat Dress:
It has a lot of the aspects of the vintage pattern...shirt dress styling, exaggerated collar, and the princess lines that I need given my shape. In fact, doesn't that collar look a little like....
So, I decided that I would use the blue silk for a second version of the coat dress. However, the silk was very flimsy...it didn't have the body that I needed for the A-line skirt, and would probably outline every lump and bump on me. I decided that I needed to underline the dress as well. Today after work, I stopped by the nicer fabric store in my neighborhood and picked up some silk organza. The organza was only 45 inches wide, so I needed 4 yards. When I got home, I got all my pieces cut out and started the assembly. So far, ONE seam is finished!
Since I was underlining, I decided to not line the dress as well. Without lining, I needed to finish the seams in some way. It seemed like after all the work of underlining, that just serging the edges seemed....wrong somehow. I decided to do a Hong Kong finish on the seams instead:
I also picked up a buckle and buttons while I was there. The buttons were a STEAL at $.25 apiece:
Hopefully, I will be able to pull my nonsense together and get this thing sewn by the 17th! Wish me luck!
On another note....here is how a value fabric at $1.95 a yard can be turned into a much less economical dress:
4 yards Vera Wang silk: $9.80
4 yards silk organza: $48.00
9 buttons: $2.25
1 buckle: $4.50
3 yards sew-in interfacing: $12.00
Total cost of $10.00 dress: $75.55
10 comments:
Well, that will certainly be a nice $10.00 dress. :) I quit trying to save money on my sewing a long time ago ~ it just never really seems to work out.
My 30 year high school reunion is on the 17th. I've decided to wear a skirt I sewed earlier. Haven't figured out the top yet so you're ahead of me. Thanks for the push/inspiration.
Your dress is going to be great. You'll be the best dressed of your classmates! We just celebrated our 40th reunion.
That will be a scrumptous dress! I too, cannot wear pleats on the bottom. Why is it we always want what we really should not have?
It's going to be a great dress!
That's a way better price than you would have paid in the store...and it will fit....and it will be something you really want! I believe you can get it made in time no problem!!!
What Carolyn said!
Yes, "what Carolyn said."
The silk dress sounds wonderful--and I DO WISH YOU LUCK that the process goes SMOOTH!
that's still not that much money for the quality of the garment. I can't wait to see the finished product!
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