Puttin' on the Ritz

For some reason this song popped into my head when Dana sent me pictures of her rocking the dress I made her for Christmas. If you haven't heard Puttin' on the Ritz then you're missing out, and I'm not going to share the awesomeness with you. Sorry. I am going to keep singing it in my head though. :-)

So let me share with you the pattern I made her.

Ok....that's a pretty terrible picture, but the pattern is Simplicity 2550 and it is obviously a Project Runway creation. :) The dress I made her is the gray/black one down in the lower right hand corner.


A while back my grandmother gave me a bunch of fabric and included in this bunch was a poly/rayon blend that was a black and white plaid. It was lightweight, didn't fray too badly and there was just about 3 yards. Doesn't hurt that the fabric was free. :) I washed it up like I normally would anything and to my luck it didn't fall apart and didn't shrink. Yay for easy to maintain, iron free fabric!

The pattern was simple to cut out and put together, and I'm a little ashamed to admit this, but the whole dress maybe took me 3 hours to sew up. There are 12 darts in the dress total. There are 8 darts in the front and then another 4 in the back. In the photo of Dana you will be able to see the darts that extend down the skirt very easily, but the darts in the bodice are more hidden because of the curves they accommodate. The  pattern called for a normal zipper, but I had an invisible zipper on hand and I have grown to prefer them so in it went. :)

Dana paired the dress with a skinny red patent leather belt. I know it looks brownish here, but I was there when she bought the red belt. Its red. :) She's also got some adorable red satin peep toes that are trimmed in black pleated ribbon and bows. I am jealous of these shoes. Curse my size 10 {sometimes 11} feet! I did not expect to see long black sleeves, but she must be having a cold spell down there in Nashville. Although with the sleeve addition at least it makes the dress an all year wonder. :)

Overall a very simple pattern for the novice sewer, because as with all Project Runway patterns they are very detailed and novice oriented. There is lots more sewing to be done in the coming weeks, because I went to Hancock with Mom and boy did we take advantage of those MLK sales. :) I have even started buying stuff for Christmas presents....next year. Yep, I said it. Christmas gifts have already started to be bought. Its ok....you can go ahead and be disgusted with me, but you can take solace in the fact that I do still have to create the gift. :) Also on tap are several new outfits for me and the boys, and I'm even going to make Stephen a guyabera. Confused? You won't be....its mostly a Hawaiian shirt. Mostly. ;-)

Have a great day guys! I can't wait to come back tomorrow to show you what I did for Devlin while I was supposed to be working on those curtains. I just couldn't say no to the boy. :)