Sunday, January 2, 2011

A Happy New Year, A Finished Project & A Giveaway Announcement Hurrah!

Stay tuned for a GIVEAWAY which will be posted tomorrow! But in the meantime...
The finished New Years Eve Dress

With the fluffy purple petticoat underneath :-)
I actually got the New years eve dress finished for my lovely pal Jodie
And what a saga it was... 

The story starts........ now
Twas the night before Christmas New Years Eve and all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse..... oh wait yes, there was one certain creature stirring... it was Renay working franticly at the sewing machine finishing seams and bows, hems and what not, then carefully handstitching here and there & everywhere. Then finally.... finito.


View from the back
Then the day came. The dress was to be worn. Jodie stepped out looking dashing in the swishy skirt and perfectly fitting bodice. She then twirled around for a little help with her zipper..... alas, when the zipper upperer went to zip her up the zipper decided that it would split. Even after an hour of trying to fix it, no luck. We tried every trick in the book, every old wives tale, Candle wax, greylead pencil... My lovely man even tried to spray WD40 on the darn thing! But no... The zipper bombed out, and with only an hour until the party, the backup dress had to be dragged out. 

The moral of the story: Don't use crappy invisible zippers that feel like paper. UGH! 

Bodice and skirt pleats. So hard to capture details 
So Jodie only got to wear the dress for 7 minutes... thats right 7 minutes!!!
But it worked out okay in the end, as it was 42 degrees (celcius!) and we were SO HOT.
Her backup dress was much cooler than the 50's petticoat number.
What a shame.

Open back design as requested
Never fear though, it has since been corrected and in wearable condition so we will just have to take it out for a twirl and cocktails another time... oh how terrible!

Dress Details:
Pattern: Self drafted. I took Jodies measurements and just got lucky with the fit.
She wanted a full skirt and an open back with a bow. I like it enough to make one for myself. Its so swishy and feminine.
Fabric: Jodie found the fabric herself and a nice little fabric boutique. It's a nice medium weight cotton sateen and sewed beautifully.
Time taken: Forever.



Anywho! Hope your all well & happy and enjoying the new year 
Come back tomorrow for a giveaway, some cute items up for grabs!

Thats all for now folks, I need a brandy.... wait I don't drink brandy...






16 comments:

  1. Beautiful dress, I love the back details - shame about the zip, but glad it was fixable in the end! And you have just brought back some lovely memories with that Kewpie doll pic! I remember coming downstairs one morning at about six years old to find a dress my mum had made for me and a matching dress on my Kewpie doll! I was so excited! Happy New Year!

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  2. This is such a gorgeous dress! How annoying about the zipper... but she'll wear it loads, I'm sure. I lurrrrve the ribbon at the back.

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  3. What a gorgeous dress, its beautiful! Happy New Year.

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  4. That's such a shame with the zipper because that is a GORGEOUS dress. The fabric works beautifully with the design. I love cotton sateen.

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  5. Oh I've had troubles with poor quality zippers too - so frustrating! I had plans on wearing my dress for NYE too.
    It is a stunning dress you made though - very cute. I love those bow details

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  6. That is such a beautiful dress! And you are a lovely friend to make such a gorgeous number for your friend. She'll wear it alot, and you're right - it was waaaaay to hot for a petticoat dress on NYE!!

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  7. Wow, this is a gorgeous dress! It came together beautifully.

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  8. what a bummer about the zipper! But I must say that is one damn fine dress. I love the open back detail. Gorgeous!

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  9. Hey Renay, followed you from SEW CHIC. Thanks for sending along your blog URL. Your story about the zipper made me laugh. I've had so many of those experiences that I frankly refuse to use invisible zippers for just about anything. I teach sewing, and my students always say...but they are so much easier to put in!...oh yeah, is that reason enough to take the risk? Even if it did last long enough for the party, soon enough, it would have to be replaced. No thanks. I'm gonna bookmark this one for my next class!

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  10. P.S. The dress did turn out BEAUTIFUL in spite of your troubles...

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  11. Lovely dress... your friend is very lucky.

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  12. You know the other solution to the bad zipper would be to sew her into the dress for the party. Of course you have to be there at the end of the night to cut her out too! I've done this in emergencies before

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  13. Absolutely beautiful dress and what a shame about the zip, I nearly cried when I read that! x

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  14. Your dress is breathtaking. I now need to find me a really beautiful tablecloth.

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