Dress in progress

I love my dress. It's been so long since I've sewn anything for myself, that I've forgotten what it's like to create something that is custom-fit for you. I'm about three-quarters the way finished. I wanted to try and get it done for tonight...it was our staff awards bsnquet, and the theme this year was the Academy Awards, so they wanted people to wear something fancy. But, I didn't want to rush the process, plus there's a lot of hand sewing to do. Oh yeah...and that part that's missing between the bodice and the skirt. Still have to cut that out.

Plus, I still have to figure out how the skirt/lining gets attached to the inside. Hotpatterns has no schematics for their patterns, and sometimes, I really, really need that picture to help me visualize. But in all actuality, it's not a hard pattern. I made it harder on myself by slicing off the seam allowances included so I could add whatever width seam allowance I wanted. Since I'm not used to doing that, I found that challenging. So, what I ended up doing was taking apart the muslin that I made, and using those as my pattern pieces. Then I didn't have to bother trying to alter the paper pieces...the muslin was already altered.

Another thing I did differently than what the pattern recommended was making the inner mounting piece out of muslin, instead of lining. I didn't think that the silk habotai I was using for the lining would support the bodice pieces much. I'm glad I decided to do that.

Oh yes, ignore the mess in the background of the picture. I don't realize how disastrous my room gets when I work on something, and I am spoiled by having my own dedicated room for my sewing stuff.