The Rachel Dress Deux IRL

I decided that for this version of the dress I would show it to you "In Real Life."  I mean I style these dresses at home with jewelry and shoes and then only take half of that styling to work with me.  Hey when I'm crawling under a desk to look for a cable cord, I don't exactly look as great as I do when I'm posing in front of the fireplace at home!  So the next couple of garments (except for my Easter Outfit) will be taken at work to provide IRL context to the garments.

Some stats:
Fabric:
Poly/wool herringbone applique fabric from the craft store


Notions:
Black bemberg lining
22" invisible black zipper
black gimp trim
black rayon seam binding
large black snaps


Construction:
Most of the details about the dress' construction can be found in this post.  

I hand stitched black gimp trim to the front of the dress to emphasize the pockets (ala Chanel's Couture Spring 2012 line, blogged about here) and to add some interest to the front.  That horizontal line adds a demarcation line to the front and stops the dress from becoming a muddle of appliques and herringbone.  


At one point I thought I would add the gimp to the neckline and the sleeve hems...but I decided that adding the trim to the sleeve's hemline would constrict the movement of my bodacious biceps...so that idea went out the window.  Once I decided not to add it to the sleeves, there didn't seem much point to add it to the neckline. 


As I mentioned, I added short sleeves to this version so that I could wear the dress alone or with a cardigan...

...and for this one I used snaps on the pockets to keep them from gapping instead of the button and buttonhole that I added to the first dress. That's basically all of the changes that I made to this second version.  


The dress wore well at work and received quite a few compliments.  It's been a few weeks since I've worn something new so it felt good to wear something fresh from the sewing machine.  Also, one of the best things about a TNT pattern is that it fits.  I tried this on for the first time this morning when I was getting ready for work...I love a dependable pattern!  *LOL*

A few more pics:

Hands on the hip shot, of course!

Close up of neckline and necklace.

The necklace is a strand of pearls w/a flower.

Back view and at least those

appliques aren't on the top of my behind!

Hands in pocket, so you can see the surprise!

...as always, more later!