Because You Asked

Briefing the Ball

I’ve had several requests for pictures of my dress on me…here’s the best I could come up with.  Sandra snapped the pic, catching me frantically cramming for the next dance I was to brief.

On to the Next Project

With the ball over, I am starting to ponder next year’s dress.  A couple Christmases ago, I received several yards of a crepe backed satin.  It’s been sitting in my stash ever since partly because I was still working on a dress and partly because I was at a bit of a loss as to how to use it.  It’s sort of a pale sage/sea green color, which I’m not totally sure is a flattering color for me.  It also doesn’t have a lot of body, which means it has the potential to cling in places I’d rather hide.  And, it’s satin – so unforgiving to silly sewing mistakes.  It was gifted by a friend and fellow teacher, though, so I do want to use it.

So.  With this in mind, I wandered around Joann’s looking for ideas.  I’m pretty sure I could use the same dress pattern as my last dress (a different view so I can have the long skirt I so missed this year).  I’m thinking that the satin is going to get assigned to the skirt.  It’s true that the bodice on that pattern is actually triple lined to give it stiffness, but I’m not totally sure it would be enough to support the satin.  My last dress was cotton, and the lining fabric was also cotton.  With satin, I would probably use nylon (or in any case a much lighter weight fabric) and I definitely DON’T want to get into boning.

I’m tossing around the idea of cutting the center panel of the skirt and the bodice in a contrasting color, possibly some sort of brocade.  That should get a potentially unflattering color away from my face.  I just need to be careful as to the shade of the color or size of the print.  My minds eye is rejecting anything too dark or overly patterned.  Maybe something in a gold or silver (not lame) base?

Since this is National Crochet Month, though, I’ve decided to concentrate more on crocheting than sewing this month.  I’m going to attempt something from my crochet magazine – I just haven’t decided if I want to try the Infinity Shawl or Flowers for Eryn Wrap.  Maybe since St. Patty’s Day is Monday, I’ll try the Irish lace (Flowers for Eryn) project.

Done!

So, other than snipping threads, my dress for the ball in two weeks is finally done.  This has been a project that I have been working on for two years.  Now, I sit back and look at it.

The good: I love the color, and I love the decision I made to line it with a color that matches the print rather than the main color.  It’s a polished cotton, which means it will be nice and cool through the 18-dance ball program, and since it’s printed with heather sprays, totally appropriate for a spring Scottish ball.

The bad: I wish now that I had made the skirt long.  To be fair, I had initially intended this dress for LAST year’s ball.  Last year, the facility that we were in had a (very steep) flight of stairs between the dance floor and the break area.  After years of tripping over and stepping on the hems of my dresses on these stairs, I decided when cutting to make this dress short (well, knee length).  We lost this facility this year, and have moved south to Lodi, to a non-staired facility.  Now I long for the elegance of a long skirt.  Plus, I picked up a book called Fit for Real People and I’ve spent the entire afternoon picking my dress apart: I feel that it doesn’t fit across the shoulders (something I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t just read that chapter *sigh*), I’m noticing bunches, I wish the neckline wasn’t quite so low (though it still passes all the necessary dance prerequisites).

But there’s always next year…

Sunday Ritual

Sundays are my lazy day.  They are the day I try to treat myself, even if only minimally.  My usual ritual involves a leisurely breakfast (this morning I arranged sliced apple and Clementine sections on a plate and accompanied it with a couple slices of whole grain French bread spread with goat cheese and pumpkin and apple butter, and coffee…of course) and then I start picking a recipe to make for dinner.  I always turn on Wait, Wait…, and when it’s over I’m ready to start on the more mundane things (laundry, grocery shopping, etc).

Today, of course, I have a matinee, so I will stop at the store on my way home.  I may or may not get something cooked tonight, but I still have salad fixings, so I have dinner.  My goal before I leave for the show is to detrim the Christmas tree.  That’s right…it’s coming down! I’m absolutely itching to finish my ball gown sewing project, and right now the tree is where my sewing machine usually lives.

Sneak Preview: Ball Gown (unfinished)