My “Let’s go Honky Tonkin’” Dress

I am finally done with  the first challenge!

For the accessory challenge I chose to make a “bombshell” dress. I had signed up for Gertie’s course when it first came out but because of several pattern sizing issues had never completed my dress. When this challenge was announced I knew this was the dress – I already had all of the materials AND an accessory I hoped to match it up with! Well I still wouldn’t call it finished, but I am done with it. I have no complaints about Gertie’s wonderful course or the pattern, but by some wierd twist of fate I never was able to get ahold of a pattern in my size. This being my first real foray into sewing clothing for myself, that did not work out too well. But, we live and we learn. The accessory I was making the dress for was my $3.95 shoes I found at a thrift store last summer.  They are Candy’s brand and I really love them. I picked this fabric to go with the shoes.

The facts:

Fabric: The fabric was purchased from JoAnn’s Fabric and is one of their quilting cottons.

Pattern: I used an Eva Dress Pattern for 1950′s Sarong.

Year: I believe this is a reprint of a 1950′s pattern.

Notions: Zipper, padding, boning, I didn’t add the boning as I was very disappointed with fit issues.

Time to complete: Every spare moment I had for 2 weeks :( Approximately 20 hours?

First Worn: January 15, 2012

Wear Again? No it isn’t really wearable, I put it on for the photos but there are gaping issues in the back, I tried to add inches back there, then needed darts, uh not good! Really the issues are too numerous to mention here. You know that’s bad, because this is a sewing blog!

Total price: Well for this exact version about $19, but all total with the pattern, notions, 3 muslin’s I made, and Craftsy course, its over $100.

I think I started with too hard of a project, what with not having the right size pattern, and not having the pattern from the course. I needed more step by step instructions. Hopefully the next dress will go together a little better!