Thursday, August 15, 2013

My 50 cent Little Red Dress

If I tell you that this dress cost 50 cents to make, will you hate me?


It has zero hanger appeal. But when it's on...


BAM! My husband had an event for work (his company's 50th anniversary) and naturally, I NEEDED a new dress to wear. I was going to wear a RTW dress I already had, but 2 days before the party I realized it was a complete waste to have sewing ability, fabric, and a (rare) fancy event and to not make anything. 

I drafted the pattern on my own, borrowing heavily from this video (which borrows heavily from Megan Nicolay's book Generation T) for the top, and using the skirt pieces (slightly modified) from McCall's 6752. I made a few quick muslins for the top and realized I needed to angle the bottom (the video shows it cut in a straight line). Here's my finished pattern piece for the top:


You cut one on the fold (at center front) and sew a mere 2 seams, at the neck and at center back. Easy peesy! I then attached the skirt and used the seam allowance to add elastic. I had to ease the skirt and top together considerably, but the result is a cute blousing at the waist that I like.

The front drape is insanely low, but I knew that going in and didn't care. This event was my first non-sports date with my husband in a year and a half, I'm not ashamed to admit that I wanted to look, well, hot!


I didn't take this photo, please excuse how blurry it is. And I promise the dress is red, not orange.

We had a great time at the event (Jeff Foxworthy even performed!) and I attempted to get some good photos when we got home, but there were a few peeps who missed me:


Oh, and how did this dress cost 50 cents? The fabric (about 2 yards, I think) was 25 cents at a garage sale. It's some sort of polyester knit with not much stretch. The lace trim was purchased at the same garage sale and it was 25 cents for a bunch of it in a bag.


I really wanted to use my serger for construction since the fabric didn't have much stretch, but sadly I don't have any red cone thread. I can't commit to any colors beside black, white, and navy. Help me!

Either my husband's coworkers are all extra nice, or the dress was a hit, because I had more than one person compliment me. It was a great feeling knowing that other people liked something that I'd sorta kinda designed and made.

I'm considering another version of this dress, in black. A stay-at-home mom can never have too many party dresses, right??

Yay Thrifty Thursday! Today's bargain from Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop is the Molly Schoolgirl Blouse! The blouse is half off and $4 today only. If you also purchase the Molly Schoolgirl Skirt, use code "schoolgirl" to save an additional $3!


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