Last night I completed my dress for tonight's Summer Ball.
The pattern is Simplicity Project Runway 2444
I love this pattern, partly because it's such an elegant dress, but mostly because the pattern also contains a croquis-kit, where you trace the woman's figure then trace the dress elements you choose onto the figure. How cool is that?
Here's my initial design:
It wasn't an easy sew, despite being the second time I've made the pattern, I was having a few sewing machine issues : blowing its bulb (can't get a spare until the weekend), top and bottom tension issues and blunting two needles (hit a pin, oops, my bad)
Anyway, my favourite element of this pattern is this cape collar:
I used tiny pleats instead of a gathering stitch because of tension issues; I like the effect in the taffeta, since the fabric is so crisp.
Here's a close-up photo of the bow in the front of the dress. The pattern gives it two long tie-ends and leaves you to tie the bow yourself. I'm not sure how good I am at that, to be honest, despite the fact that I adore bows. I usually construct bows with seperate loops of fabric so that I get that kind of cartoon-bow effect.
I'm looking forward to wearing it tonight and showing it to my friends before they all go home for the summer
