The Reveal

It has been an interesting journey...one that has occupied my unusually one track mind...here then is my latest dress:

Some stats:

Fabric:
1 yard navy blue tropical wool
1 yard navy blue wool lace knit

Notions:
2.5 yards navy bemberg lining
14" invisible zipper
3 yards navy blue piping

Some Final Construction Notes:

• The dress has no sleeves.  I tried the dress on for my DD and she said that the dress looked really good without sleeves...so I took her advice and left them off.  This does make the dress more versatile so that it can be worn with quite a few cardigans and a jacket or two presently in my wardrobe.

• The hem is machine stitched.  I added the rayon seam binding to the hem and then removed it.  It caused a show through on the lacy part of the dress that looked home ecky.  The machine stitched hem melts into the lacy part of the dress and melds into the fibers of the tropical wool so I went with that.

•  The lining has been reversed.  Usually I put wrong sides together, but since a good portion of the dress is lacy, I didn't want the seams showing through to the right side of the dress.  So that nice clean finish is missing on the inside of the dress..there are serged seams instead.

•  It was stated in the comments of the last Versace Inspired post that Versace wouldn't add piping to the dress.  And the person who left that comment is probably right...but since I adapted pieces of the original dress that I liked to my dress, I gave myself permission to also add design touches that are true to my style.  And I love piping ~ it adds a finishing touch that I adore.

•  I ditched the belt.  I pinned it in but my daughter thought it detracted from the dress instead of adding to it.  I agreed...so the belt was left on the cutting table.

The plan is to wear the dress with a pair of taupe shoes, but of course, I left them under my desk at work.  However, here is a pic of the dress with a vanilla cardigan...how it may make an appearance at my job.

 
I've also got a great navy flower and a navy hat that I will probably wear with the dress for Easter Sunday...and no I don't have a pic of that...my daughter was getting ready to leave and she and my SIL graciously waited for me to get dressed...and slap some make up on...so that she could take some pics for me...which of course leads to the gratitious picture of me with The Little Prince.

Finally, making this dress pushed my pattern interpretation skills to another level.  I'm sure to some it's just another version of my TNT dress...cementing my sewing skills as one note...but to me, it allowed me to think outside the box and incorporate some details that I would never see in a plus size dress anywhere. 

I really hope that if you are a plus size sewist reading these posts that you see that we can make anything we want...current and trendy, designer or not, classic and cute but most importantly that with a TNT pattern you can have any look you want!

...more later!