Vintage Vogue will be done in time for the event!

Hi Y'all,
My mom said to me, "you haven't done your blog in a while, how is your dress coming?" And I am not sure if I am happy she reads my blog or bummed that this is the way she finds out what I am up to ??? Either way she is right I needed to do an update and I have been bad about blogging lately.

I have good news to report. First I FINALLY got a real camera, a Nikon D3100. I went to the camera store talked to the guy and looked at cameras for about an hour, then bit the bullet and bought it.

But you don't want to hear about the camera, you want to see the pictures of the dress that I took with the camera......

 The dress is almost finished. All I have left to do is to hem the sleeves and do the hem. I am doing all the hems using satin bias binding. I finished all other edges on the inside of the dress on the serger.

The neckline is VERY modest, which is not really my style normally. But I think it is interesting and adds to the retro quality of the dress without sending it into being too much like a costume.

Here is a close up of the lovely S curve that makes up the bodice of the dress.

The velveteen ended up being really easy to work with. As you can see in the detail shots it hangs nicely and really shows of all of the gathering that the dress needed.

The way that the fabric looks different in different light will accentuate the gathers and show them off. If I had done this dress in another type of fabric I am not sure it would have worked so nicely.

I ended up making more adjustments to the real deal than I did to the muslin. I took in the arm pit / chest about 2 inches on each side. I think that since the velveteen has so much more body than the muslin did there was just too much bulk in this area when the dress was on me.

I also ended up taking in the waist about 4 inches. First I cut in on the side seems about an inch the I made the two darts in the back of the dress about an inch deeper each and made them longer to compensate for being deeper.  This was an interesting learning lesson on the muslin vs. the real dress. I do think it was worth the effort of doing the muslin because I knew I was close to how I wanted the dress to look. I was much more confident when making the real dress than I would have been without doing the muslin.

I just wanted to show you a close up of how nicely it draped on this section.

I am not showing you the back on purpose, so you will have to guess on what type of closure I did. But the party is on 1/31/2011 and I am hoping my husband will get home in time to take some pictures of me all dressed up before we go so you can see the full effect. I am planning on wearing some vintage jewels (fake but fab!) and wondering if since the neckline is so demure I can pull off fishnets? And very high patent leather heals?

Any one have any other accessory ideas? Any ways to make this a modern outfit without loosing the retro flair?

I have lots of projects on the horizon and in case you are interested here is a list of a few:

- my audition for the Burda Style  "The Next Sewing Star" contest. The video has been shot - Thanks Lee Anne!!! It is edited and uploaded to You Tube. But I am planning to feature it tomorrow, can't overshadow my dress ;)
- baby quilt
- men's shirt sew along (participating not leading)
- reversible wrap skirt (this is a craft exchange with a friend)
- more clothes for me!
- fixing up my sewing room
- projects for Sew Much Comfort
- re-visiting a Burda Style magazine pattern I used last year to make a dress. I plan to repair the dress and make it wearable. I messed up a little and gave up on it but it deserves a 2nd chance.
- making an "eye spy" quilt

If any of these sound more interesting to you let me know. I always have trouble picking what to do next.

Peace Out - C