The overkill dress

You would not believe how much work I put into it! First of all the fabric was super expensive (90 NIS per meter which is like $21 per meter). I made the previous dress (the purple one) just as a test before making this one (though I ended up using a different pattern).

This one is from the March 2010 Burda magazine - you can see it on the cover. It's a classic strapless dress, fully lined. Its shape is sophisticated, not as plain and more mature than the previous dress I made (the purple one).




Sorry for the bad photos! I promise better ones tomorrow from the wedding I am attending, wearing this dress.




So what have I learned? a TON.

1. Let's talk about strapless. This means that the dress has to hold itself up on its own! Which means it can't be too loose, and it needs boning (plastic lengths that you sew onto the vertical seams) and it also has this hidden belt at the waist, AND it has to fit right so as not to gap or smush at the top.
   
   So "strapless" was the toughest aspect of this dress. You wouldn't believe how many moments I was just about to give up and add spaghetti straps. But no! I wanted to go all the way with the strapless, to see how it would turn out. Conclusion: if the strapless is not a MUST, make a dress with at least spaghetti straps and save yourself a ton of fidgeting (both while sewing and while wearing the dress). I might even add straps after I wear it one time strapless.
   
   
2. The dress is fully lined. Which means I had to sew 2 "dresses" from different fabric and then connect them at the top and in other places as well. The lining still slides a bit at the top back so you can see it sometimes - I think I'm going to have to secure it (stitch it) to the seam allowances of the front.
   
   
3. There was a TON of hand sewing on this dress. The boning (4 pieces) was all hand sewn. The lining is sewn to the zip tapes by hand. Of course the hem was hand sewn. Parts of the hidden belt were hand sewn.
   
   
4. What else - fitting. I copied the pattern twice. Because I made the bust a 36, the waist a 38, and the hips a 42 (or 44?). Anyway, I, being crazy about fit and about squaring corners on the pattern, I wanted to re-do it to get it just right. It ended up a great fit from the start, which was one good thing. I ended up excluding the pockets, BTW. Would you believe I never made in-seam pockets? I wasn't about to give it a first try on this dress!
   
   
5. The seam that connects the dress to the lining creates the shape of the top (bustline?) of the dress. You need to be very careful when making it to get it even and to get those nice corners. Also I fidgeted a lot with it to make sure it wouldn't be too low cut.
   

I'm telling you. After a dress like this, which was indeed challenging and interesting to make but extremely time consuming and with great results but not really with many occasions to be worn - - I think making any other normal not-lined not-close-fitting dress will be a breeze!!! There must be a better way... This was just too much work.

My next dress is a black v-neck with pleats at the waist, gathered at the shoulders, sleeveless, A line. There are 2 pattern pieces - it should be like a vacation after this one!

Tell me what you think!