it's done, thank god it's done

B6582

I have many quibbles about the finished project,  as well as a number of things that should be mentioned before anything else, so let's start with those, in convenient bullet form:

• I haven't ironed it since I wore it for four hours on Saturday
• Since I am malleable and my dress form is hard plastic, I had to dial it all the way down to the smallest size to be able to fit the dress on it, since it's very fitted. Because of that, it doesn't look it's best on this too small dress form. 
• rolled hems on sheer fabric can go plumb straight  to hell.  I really hate how the hem bubbled due to my shotty hem job, but other than that I feel like everything else worked out well.

 Butterick 6582

Pattern Description:
Semi-fitted dress, mid-calf has gathered shoulders and back zipper. A: attached bow. A,B: straight, back vent. C: flared, belt. Purchased petticoat and belt-kit. 

I did view C.
 
Pattern Sizing: 18-22

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Mostly. It would need a petticoat to flare the skirt out a bit more, and I neglected to make a self belt.

Were the instructions easy to follow? yes

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
It was relatively simple, and would have gone together fairly quickly if I hadn't spaced the construction out over a month or so.

Fabric Used: a forest green sheer silk georgette I got on a very good sale from Mood online and a poly crepe-back satin from Fabric Depot. I had originally bought the georgette, intending for the whole dress to be made from it, but when it arrived, it was too sheer. I decided to just use it as a skirt overlay, and went looking for something more solid for the "base" of the dress. Apparently this forest/emerald green color isn't very popular. I was weary about ordering online and not being able to get a true color match, and locally, I had a very hard time finding anything. Joanns was completely useless (as usual), and I wound up at Fabric Depot stressing over their small selection of apparel fabrics, especially special occasion appropriate. The only thing in the color I needed was this poly crepe-back satin, which I actually turned inside out. I felt the "front" side (the shiny side) was tacky, but the inside, which is matte, was much better. There was literally an eighth more of the amount I needed left on the bolt. I certainly lucked out!

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I made a double layer skirt. I cut two of each of the skirt pieces, one of the satin and one of the georgette. I also added bias tape to the inside waist to stabilize it a bit more.  The top part of the bodice could be more fitted. I cut the bodice patterns on a 20 at the top (neckline, straps, ect) and a 22 at the areas closer to the waist. I could have probably gone with an 18 instead, but was worried it might be too constricting.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Maybe. If I were to need another dress for this type of occasion, I'd rather have a different one from the one I already have.

 

 Bonus points if you can spot the peanut butter stain. 

Here you can see the "correct" side of the fabric, on the inside. 

Remember the accessories drama? How I found the perfect earrings/brooch set, only to be outbid by like 25 cents in the last ten seconds of the auction? And then I couldn't find another anywhere at all and finally like a week before the wedding found one on ebay that was okay, but not exactly what I wanted?

Well. I ended up placing a bid on it since I was starting to get nervous about finding anything at all. Then, about four hours before the auction was set to end, I found THIS:

ARTICULATED TIGER SHOULDER BROOCH.

HOW

WHY

THANK YOU 1980S.

Number one, I had no idea that "should brooch" was even a thing, but I guess it was, and I am in the process of bringing it back.

His eyes match the dress color perfectly. It was meant to be. Plus it was only $12, and it was "buy it now",  so no one was going to outbid me this time. I bought it, figuring that I was going to lose the demi-parure anyway. 

Weellll....

 Turns out I was the only one to bid on it, and therefore I won that too. Okay. It was also only $12, so it was fine. I wound up wearing the earrings and the tiger (who was named Archibald at the ceremony), along with a hat I haven't gotten a good picture of. 

Remember the other drama, the shoe drama? Well, when I couldn't find the plain low-to-mid heel nude shoe I wanted, I said what the hell and got the opposite of that.

(x)

I've wanted to try BAIT footwear for a long time, but they're quite expensive. I was running out of time, so I was willing to spend a little more money, and was looking at literally every shoe website I could find. Modcloth sells BAIT shoes, but didn't have any in stock that I wanted, so I looked over at their website and found these in their sale section. They're called the Noel, which makes me think of Noel Fielding and his gold boots and I was like these are them right here. Done. They happened to have 10s still, so I blindly ordered them hoping they'd be wide enough. Turns out they are! They rub a bit at the toes, but nothing to bad. I wore them to the wedding out of the box, so I think they'd break in a bit with more wear.

 Finally, here's a picture taken after the ceremony as we were leaving in the elevator alcove, which was the only source of natural light hahaha. I'd been at the church for 8 hours at this point (I helped set up and it was hot as hell in that church. Ironically, I suppose), so I'm a little bedraggled.  In this photo, it looks almost like the hem was intended to be a bubble hem, so let's go with that.   This is the most accurate coloring in all the photos in this post!

BONUS ANIMAL FRIENDS LOUNGING WHILE I TOOK PHOTOS