Homecoming Dress wrap-up

My nice camera is MIA...I am very sad because it was a gift to myself a few years ago and I think the SD card had our Paris pictures on it.  As a result of the missing loved one, we settled for my husband's iPhone camera, which he swears "takes great pictures." Not sure I agree.

Good news is that the dress was finished by the 10th, in time for the peformance on the 11th, washed for the dance on the 13th, then washed again for another wearing at the National Honor Society induction on the 24th.  Sadly, I have few pictures of the last event, since my husband was out of town and I only had my Blackberry, which takes terrible pictures.  However, I am thrilled that she has worn the dress three times and has declared that it is her new "go-to" dress for concerts!  I'm always happy when the "big event" dresses get more than one wearing, even if this was an easy-big-event-dress.

I know, it's hard to see any details.  And from far away, it resembles a slip (my mom asked what she was wearing over it)!  But it is lovely and simple and apparently comfortable.  I think our version fits nicer than the cover model's version (which resembled a loose potato sack).

• All seams were of the French variety, since (a) the satin frayed terribly and (b) the lace was transparent.  I even left the darts un-cut for fear that they would fray away completely.
• The stretch satin from Hancock was a pleasant surprise!  It was a nice weight, gives a little when she sits down -- which is quite a bit if she's wearing it for a concert.  The only downside was the fraying, but any satin I've sewn with has given me that trouble.
• The self-made "stay tape" that I concocted with pieces of black interfacing were a terrible disappointment.  I have bad luck with fusible interfacing, so I am going to try something other than Pellon before my next project.  The lace was surprisingly stable, so I probably didn't need it to begin with, and I pulled all the interfacing off before I completed the dress.
• I love the lace - as mentioned, it was easy to work with and it's simple and elegant. I hope I have enough left over for a future project for ME.  I would even consider making myself one of the other versions of the same pattern.
• The only alteration to the pattern was to lengthen the skirt.  A shorter length would have been fine for dancing, but since she wanted to wear it while playing the violin in a chair (and in some instances on an elevated stage), we decided an extra couple of inches would be best.

Here are some really nice pictures of her and her chamber group at the event.  Photos are courtesy of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the kind and talented photographer they hired for the evening, Stephen Ironside.  She wouldn't allow us close enough to snap any shots, so we got creative and asked the photographer to be our surrogate.  It's a gorgeous setting!  She gets to go back for another performance in December...I'm hoping that she won't need a new dress.

Stephen Ironside Photography

Stephen Ironside Photography

Stephen Ironside Photography

Homecoming 2012 - McCall's 6460

The dress is coming along nicely.  Thank goodness it is "EASY", because Stephanie decided she needed to have it on the 11th instead of the 13th.  So I lost almost one full Saturday's worth of sewing...  I can't complain - she got a violin gig at a fancy museum event, so she's gotta have a new dress! Who would deny her that?  And she gets to wear the dress twice -- I already feel better about it.

The muslin came out pretty close - I cut a 12 with a 14 bust, but with all the nips and tucks, we decided to cut a straight 10 instead.  The cup-size options eliminated the need for an FBA, and we were pleased with how well the muslin fit!

I dragged myself into Hancock Fabrics in search of a black satin that wasn't too cheap.  Most of the stuff I've sewn with unravels so fast I'm afraid I won't have a garment when I've finished.  Ended up with a "stretch" satin, which had a nice weight.  I think it will be fine, although I did zig zag every single bit of the edge to keep it from falling apart.

Unfortunately, no black stay tape at Hancock, so I settled for a black fusible interfacing that I applied to the seam allowances. 

It's hard to see from the picture, but the lace is really quite pretty.  Delicate and not too busy.

Homecoming 2012 - Preliminaries

I count myself lucky that I have a 16 year old who actually wants me to sew for her and is even proud to wear home made special occasion dresses outside the house!  I usually get about halfway into the project and decide that it would have been easier to just go buy something.  But in the end, it's a great mother-daughter experience and I'm happy that she wants to include me in the process. 

This year, she has decided that she wants me to make McCall's 6460, view C:

It's EASY, I had it in my pattern stash already, and it required very little fabric.  Seemed like a slam-dunk.  We had originally intended to make it for a wedding where she was to play the violin, but the bride wanted everyone in navy and we just never found anything that fit the bill for this one.

Last weekend we picked out a lovely lacy black mesh from Gorgeous Fabrics for the contrast (yoke and hem), and since Stephanie was in love with her latest toenail polish, she picked a bright magenta/fuchsia crepe-back satin from Vogue fabrics that matched her little piggies perfectly as the predominant color.  She generally has a very pleasant sense of style, so I didn't give it much thought.

They arrived on Friday, and I didn't say anything, since it was her pick, but imagined something from a trashy bordello instead of an elegant evening dress.  What a relief when she told me later Friday night that she didn't want to look like a hooker and can we please go with plain black satin instead? 

 lac5875 (Gorgeousfabrics.com) & SR-CVS-Fuchsia (voguefabricsstore.com)

I was picturing something closer to this for the end product:


So we have revised the search.  We will keep the black lace -- it would be easiest to mix it with a black satin, although it would be more fun to find a nice dark purple or something with less contrast to the black than what the fuchsia has. I guess another black dress wouldn't hurt, would it?  Young ladies and violinists always need black dresses.

Drop dead date is October 13, so I will have to shop locally.  BLURG!  Our fabric store choices are limited...