Tuesday, January 13, 2015

A Fancy-Schmancy Dress for a friend

Skirt - Vogue 1174
Bodice - Vogue 8494
Dated: July 2014


Hey there long lost friends - I'm back from the dead! Yes, it is coming up to a year since I've blogged so I thought I'd better have another crack at this whole blogging shebang before the final nail is hammered into my blogging coffin.

Life has been a smidge busy  - returning to full time work, being a mother, undergoing renovations and just trying to live a semi-balanced life. I have continued to sew and have certainly kept up my blog-reading, however, I've missed posting all my creations and interacting with other sewists. It's time, methinks. 

This is a fancy-schmancy dress I made for my friend Amy in July to wear to her sister's wedding. She asked for something bright and tropical. When I spotted this 'just listed' sensational Oscar de la Renta silk taffeta on EmmaOneSock I decided it was absolutely the one - awesome colour, sensational fabric and fan palms-ish. Tropical, yet luxurious. From memory I texted her at about 6am and suggested she buy it immediately. A few hours later, I checked the site and it was SOLD OUT....fortunately she had snapped it up. Double yay! She gets a gorgeous dress and I get to sew with luxury fabric.

The dress was created by merging two patterns. The bodice of V8494 and the skirt fromV1174. During my renovations, I stayed with Amy for 3 days. This gave me the opportunity to work on the toile. It was fun to have the opportunity to apply some of my fitting knowledge on a garment for someone else. I must say, it's far easier to fit a friend, then oneself - no crazy yoga positions required when pinning.

The dress has an invisible zipper up the CB. I also lined the entire dress in black silk lining. 


Sadly, I don't actually have a good photo of Amy wearing the dress. This is just a dodgy one taken on my mobile phone when I collected her kids from the reception for a sleepover. What I can say though, is that the moment I laid eyes on it I thought 'that looks like a really high-end dress - stunning!' - the fabric is extraordinary!


During my weekend stay at Amy's house, her husband wanted in on the custom-made sewing action and requested a bow tie made from the same fabric. I got the pattern from the Martha Stewart site. This tie is knotted in the traditional way. I did, however, make the length adjustable by adding a slide to the neck strap. Therefore, if the wearer would like to remove it, but is too drunk to remember how to retie it, then he has another option. Everyone needs a backup plan, now and again.

I had a fabulous time watching the this 'The Art Of Manliness' clip on how to tie a bowtie. I think I watched it over 20 times while trying to conquer tying the tie.





 Another dodgy phone photo.

And lastly, because I was house-sitting someone else's house over the holidays, while my house was being renovated and had very little to do, I sewed up a matching clutch for Amy by joining strips of the selvedge together. The selvedge was a beautiful sage colour, as shown in the leaves on the dress. It also had a stitched paisley print in shiny black silk thread all over it. I nailed the dress and the tie...the clutch did look a smidge homemade though.



And that's all for now. A fun project from mid-2014. I'll try my best to keep this little blog chuffing through 2015.

So long!

6 comments:

  1. Oh the dress is so beautiful. Your lucky friend. I love the fabric and would break my self imposed fabric diet to have some.

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  2. Well hooray! I'm glad you're back. I find it hard to post on my blog as often as I used to but I haven't given it up because, like you mention, I enjoy the interaction with others who sew. I've mulled over quitting from time to time... It is fun. We'll see. I love the fabric choice. That does look like a very high end dress. Lucky friend!

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  3. It's a stunning looking dress, amazing fabric and the fit on your friend looks excellent! I hope you will keep blogging - even if you can only make time to blog every so often - I get inspired by your sewing!

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  4. Good to see you here Bernice! Great dress - looks very nicely fitted, too. I am trying to get back into the swing of blogging for myself, too. The interaction is nice and also the record of projects and happenings.

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  5. Welcome back - that's one gorgeous dress you've made for your friend. All the beautiful fabrics you find at EmmaOneSock inspired me to place my first order!

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  6. Thanks ladies. It's nice to be back!

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