Circled In Stripes

Last year I was the chairperson for our annual fashion show that our sewing club here in Chicago hosts. We usually have two challenges during the year to inspire the members to sew and prepare for the show. The theme of last year's show was Le Tour De France. We "toured" France throughout the show. Our first challenge was a red challenge and the ladies kicked it out of the park with incredible garments. Out second challenge was a stripe challenge. Once again, the ladies did an over the top job with their garments. In fact Cennetta of http://themahoganystylist.blogspot.com/ won the Palmer/Pletsch Win A Workshop Contest with her incredible jacket. You can see her jacket as well as the other winners here.

This past weekend was the opening of the opera season here in Chicago. It's always such a lovely evening, beautiful clothes and wonderful opera. I decided to finish up my dress made from the stripe fabric for the opening night. The skirt is a half circle skirt and then just a princess line strapless bodice. The picture above was taken once we returned home. It was virtually impossible to take a picture at the opera house because it was so crowded.

I am especially happy with the bodice of the dress. Matching the stripes on the princess seam was a bit of a challenge. The photographer at the opera had asked me to sit down for a picture. Hopefully the picture he took was better than this one.

A back view of the dress.

 Close up detail of the trim. My stripes are just a bit off on the right hand side. Oh well.

This is how crazy I can be. In making this dress, I was determined to use what I have. I found the black and gold trim below and thought it was nice but not quite nice enough. Then I pulled out the rhinestone trim and thought, "if I twirl the rhinestones around the black and gold trim, that will give the dress just that little hint of shine that I'm looking for." So, I sat down and hand sewed the rhinestones to the black and gold trim and then sewed the combination to the dress.

The lining of my dress. I love putting something a little unexpected inside my clothes. It's like this lovely little secret that only I am my husband know about(and now you)!

I did do an inner corset. This makes all the difference in the world. Your gown will stay in place and you won't be tugging at your dress all night.

If you'll notice, my right hand is inside a pocket. I love putting a pocket in my gowns as long as they won't show. A little pocket makes for a lovely place to hide a tissue or even a tube of lipstick.  

I am planning to add a tulle underskirt to the dress. I decided to wait and not have it in the skirt for this event as I didn't want my skirt to intrude in my seat neighbor's space.
A circular skirt is such an easy garment to draft. I've posted a tutorial on circular skirts as one of the Fabulous Free Pattern Friday posts. You can see that post here.
A very simple dress, but it has such an elegant appeal, at least I think it does. I'm excited about adding the tulle underskirt and wearing it for dancing!! Fun, Fun, Fun! The circular skirt should twirl nicely.
If anyone would like, I would be happy to do a little tutorial on adding a side seam pocket as I did in this dress. Just let me know.
Have a wonderful day.
Rhonda