The Silk Dress

The Daddy Monkey and I had tickets to a fancy party for the closing night of our town’s film festival.  Due to several unrelated events involving a volcano, my mother, and the Monkey Children, we were not able to go ahead with our date as planned.

But at least we still had a babysitter.  The Daddy Monkey asked if I was wearing the dress I made, even though our plans had changed.  Yes, I told him, I made the dress and I am going to wear it. Every free moment I’ve had for the past nine days were spent on this dress, which is why I haven’t posted here all week.  And the dress was finished only an hour before we were set to leave.  But our evening was salvaged with a visit to our favorite sushi place, and a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey eaten on the beach at sunset.  At least it wasn’t a total waste.

The dress is Simplicity’s 4070.  The original version of the dress was made with the pleated skirt, because I thought it would hide the empty baby house, but it only made things much worse, plus it made me look like I was about 20 years late for the prom.  Not good.  So I took the skirt apart and was able to re-cut it with the lining pattern pieces instead, making it a very nice and slim A-line.

I bought the silk fabric for this dress two years ago, from Joann’s on crazy clearance.  I think it was about $5 a yard.  My only regret is not buying the entire bolt.  The lining is a lightweight cotton-linen blend.

I am really trying to improve my sewing skills, so I tried to make the inside of the dress look as good as the outside.  Behold my first ever French seam:

It sure it pretty isn’t it?

Here’s the lace-bound hem that my mother taught me how to make many years ago.

The hem and lining match up well.

Overall, I’m pleased with the dress. The fit was a bit troublesome, and I ended up purchasing an enormous push-up bra because I could not fill up the top of it.  I also had to add some darts to the top of the bodice, to keep it from gaping on the top.  I finally achieved a nice fit, but come to find out I couldn’t really breathe all that well with it that fitted.

But who needs to breathe when you look like a bombshell, right?

p.s. The shoes are red patent leather DKNY I bought for $16.99 at Ross many years ago.  They are a knockout, but murder on the feet.  Obviously.