Friday, December 20, 2013

My 2013 Christmas Dress

Before I show you the finished outfit, I'm going to talk about the rest of the construction process.  Feel free to skip to the bottom!!!

The next step after making the bodice was to put on the trim pieces.  On the Blue Roses dress, these were edged in piping, so I thought I'd do the same thing with this dress, but in gold.  So I bought some gold satin to turn into bias.  What an experience that was!  Even drawing the diagonal lines on it to cut out the strips was a nightmare, so I gave up on that idea.  I could see it taking waaaaaaay to much time.  So I crossed all my fingers and toes and headed to Spotlight in the hope they'd have some gold bias.


THEY HAD TWO TYPES!!!!  Gold satin and gold lurex!  After putting both with the shoes, I put a post on my Facebook page to see what people preferred, and the unanimous vote was the lurex (on the right of the photo), which is exactly what I thought too!

So I tried to make piping from it... it shifted around and no matter how slow the machine went, how careful I was, or how much I pinned it, this happened:

I'm surprised I have any hair left after trying to make this...

So I gave up on that idea, and decided to use the bias as bias, and I trimmed down the seam allowance on the top side of the trim piece, and wrapped the bias around it.  Then I attached these pieces to the bodice!


Then I had to pleat the skirt.  This took FOREVER!!!  I had a pleat pattern I wanted to follow from a lovely vintage shirtwaist dress in my collection.  It looks like this:

The pleats are in groups of four, with a little more than an inch in between the groups

I had two lengths of fabric to pleat, both a little over 2 metres, one for the front and one for the back.  It took several attempts to get it right.  I'd pleat up half a side, measure it, it would be too long (or too short) so I'd have to pull the pins out, iron it flat, and start again.  Thankfully I was doing this in front of the TV watching Call the Midwife, so really it wasn't that bad!

Eventually I got it right, and I attached the pieces together and attached it to the bodice.  Then I hand picked the zipper, because I figured it would be easier to do that with all the layers.  And here is the finished outfit!

I swear, all that work with the pleating was TOTALLY WORTH IT!



Crazy Christmas shoes (actually called Santa Baby) by Irregular Choice
(sadly these are now sold out worldwide)
 
Amazing poinsettia fascinator by GGs Pinup Couture
Gail also is on Facebook and Instagram, and sells on Etsy
Seriously worth checking out her work - its AHHHMAZING!

I am 100% sure that this is my best Christmas outfit so far, and its setting the bar pretty high for next year!  Do you dress in the Christmas theme at this time of year, or on Christmas day - or is it just me?

Beccie
xxx

27 comments:

  1. AMAZING!!!!!! You make me want to make Christmas themed dresses every year.

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    1. I am sure the shoes will become a collector piece Beccie. They make me laugh every time I see them.

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    2. Girliefrank - come join the insanity and make a Christmas dress with me next year :)

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    3. Nada, I'm pretty sure they will - they are awesome, and I haven't seen anything as silly and fabulous in all my life :)

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  2. Absolutely gorgeous! I am so glad the gold detailing worked out for you - it really makes the dress!!

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    1. Hi Laura Mae - I would have gone to any lengths to get the gold on the detail pieces!!! Without them it just wouldn't be the same. The shapes seem to create an optical illusion to accentuate the waist line. I love it! Thanks so much for commenting :)

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  3. Very nice dress. I like the waist detail and the way the pleats lay. I will have to try the pleating on something.

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  4. Next year, for sure. I will sew along with you next year.

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    1. Well thats an interesting idea... maybe I should host a sew along next year....

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  5. Hmmm. That last photo shows off a bit more than just the poinsettia lol.

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    1. But its still less than you'd see if I was in a strapless dress ;)

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  6. You look divine! I love the gold trim - from the outside perspective it was totally worth all the hair pulling!

    I always dream of sewing a Christmas dress but I've only made it happen a couple of times as December always gets the better of me. Next year will be the first year of my life that I won't be a student come December, so I won't have to worry about wrapping up the quarter, so I WILL sew a Christmas dress!!!

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    1. I totally agree - it was all worth it. The dress just would not be the same without the gold piping :)

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  7. Love it. I love dressing themey for holidays :).

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    1. Its fun isnt it. I wish it was colder here so I could wear one of those really awful Christmas sweaters!

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  8. the dress is perfect! and what a interesting way to pleat, it really makes the skirt part look great and the gold trim show pieces the bodice wonderfully. great job.

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  9. You are now my daughters idol! Seriously she is always bugging me to learn to sew so I can make dresses just like yours:)

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  10. It's so gorgeous!!! I love a good holiday dress and theme dressing is always more fun than a regular outfit. You look really fabulous.

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  11. How can you dare to post such an amazing dress?! ;-) Frankly, I have made a skirt for Christmas as I haven't anything at all to wear (really!), and I just made a simple black skirt after a 40's pattern, but looking at you gorgeous outfit makes me almost swoon... This is just great!

    Happy Christmas to you!

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  12. Amazing - one of the best Christmas dresses I have seen - love the gold trim

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