Halloween Wedding Outfit Update

I've made some progress on my ambitious plans to make a dress and coat to wear to a wedding on Halloween, though I still have a lot to do.

I decided to start with the dress since I figured that would be less time consuming and at least I would be sure of having something to wear. I chose the BWOF dress pattern 125 from 11/2007 issue, but planned to change the skirt to something a bit less puffy.

As usual my "organic" process led me to make a pencil skirt to attach to the dress and finally to a separate top and skirt instead of a dress. I really love this brocade fabric and wanted to be able to get more wear out of it. The skirt looks good with a brown jacket and boots I already have so that sealed my decision. It's an OOP TNT pattern Vogue 2218, I seem to have lost my photo of it, but it doesn't look terribly exciting on the hanger and you'll see it being worn soon.

The dress pattern is based on an original Burda vintage design and I think typically of vintage dresses, has a sleeve gusset piece under the arm. I stitched this part by hand to get better control in these small very triangular areas. The only other changes I made after trying a quick muslin were an FBA, a centre front seam so I could get a nice sharp v there and I also cut wide seam allowances so I could fine tune the fit later. I also put the zip in upside down once I decided it was going to be a top to make it easier to get into.

Sleeve gusset detail

The skirt just needs hemming and the top needs lining and hemming. I know I can get this done quickly and wanted to make a start on the more time consuming coat. I know it should not make any difference what order I sew the pieces in but psychologically it does! I'll show you where I am with the coat next time.

I'd like to give a huge thank you to Melody for nominating me for a blog award. I have no clue how to get the image onto my blog though (no awards for smart blogging for me!). Do check out Melody's blog and fabric store if you haven't already.

Thank you for the comments on my top in the last post, I'm definitly inspired to make the dress after seeing Toy's and Christina's fabulous versions. E asked where I got the brocade fabric - I'm afraid it was from a local store in Hong Kong - Yuen Fat fabrics in Li Yuen Street, Central if you are ever down that way! Avid Embroiderer, I tried to send you an email, not sure if you received it, let me know if not.