2 Years in the Making!

My main project (the boat dress) was frustrating me to no end, so I picked this out of the "Pile of Shame." It had been malingering there for about two years. I bought it at an overpriced estate sale at a big house here in New Orleans. I expected they would ask too much for it, but I got it for a dollar or two. It was potentially cute and in my size. It is a Vogue American Designers series by Albert Nipon, 2533, size 8. It is undated, but other patterns from the series seem to be from the 70s, and the list price is 5.00, so that seems reasonable.

My sexy spokesmodel, T-Rex.

I enthusiastically started this two summers ago. The photo of the girl wearing the dress on the cover looks frumpy and hideous, but I like the knee length sketch. The back says "crisp fabrics" but it looked so cute in the slinky sketch I decided to ignore that. It all goes downhill from there. I bought a beautiful grey-purple slinky rayon (I think) from Jo-Ann.

The main problems that made me quit were: I had never made pleats before; the fabric was so slippery, it was frustrating; and step one of the pattern. Essentially, step one wants you to make an interfaced finished band down the side where you will later make button holes. However, I am far from being a professional seamstress and could not figure out what it wanted, so i tried my best. Of course, ten steps later, I realized what was supposed to be done, but it was too late.

My adjustments: I did snaps down the side, because at that time I had not found the lady at the dry cleaners who makes cheap buttonholes (so cheap, like $2-3, including sewing on the button). I shortened it by about 4-5 inches on the hem and used that fabric to make a belt. In the end, after a lot of frustration, I came out with a really cute dress.

A happy ending after all!