Here’s one I made earlier

In last week’s blog I explained about the satchel I made from various cocktail and evening dresses fabric.  For this week’s blog I thought I’d show you the actual dresses where the fabric came from.

I’m a yo-yo when it comes to size, so some of the dresses have a little bit shape to them (when I was thin-ish....) and others are like a sack of potatoes!!!!!

 

I think I paid less than £1 for this pattern as it was ‘last season’ when I bought it several years ago.  There are three pattern styles – long length, knee length and flared knee length – and I must have made each two or three times. The black crepe fabric worked really well, though it did fray quite a bit.

Sack of potatoes time..... I’m afraid Gertie my tailors dummy isn’t doing this dress any justice. I can assure you that it DOES look a lot better on me – and that’s saying something !!!! I loved the fabric but it was horrible to work it. Because it was so silky it wouldn’t stay still so cutting it out and stitching were a nightmare. 

 Your eyes do not deceive you. The hem of the dress isn’t straight. The problem occurred because whilst Gertie looked like she was standing level on my work room carpet, she was anything but. It was only after I’d finished it that my mam spotted the mistake. There wasn’t time to alter it so I just pretended it was meant to look like that. We solved Gertie’s problem with a piece of wood and a spirit level...

One of my thin period dresses. What caught my eye about this pattern was the bodice front. I wore this at a dinner event where large screens and overhead cameras were dotted around the ballroom. Unbeknown to me I was sitting underneath one of the cameras. Everyone in the room got several good views of my cleavage as the camera man thought I was great entertainment….

This is one of my all time favourite dresses. Again, it was during my ‘thin period’ so Gertie does look like she has a bit of a waist. I loved the way the back drape hangs.

And finally as it’s my wedding anniversary tomorrow (18 years. Gosh where has the time gone.....) I thought I’d include my wedding dress.

This, along with the three bridesmaids dresses, is the biggest dressmaking project I’ve ever done. The total cost of all the fabric and trimmings for the wedding and bridesmaids dresses came to just £320. Peanuts compared to how much wedding dresses cost nowadays !!!!

I think it took about three months to make all the dresses. I would have liked the bow at the back of the dress and the train a little bigger. However I was out voted two to one by my mam and godmother…

Have a great week.

Gertie xx

PS pop over to Handmade Monday to see what other fellow craft bloggers have been up to.