Its amazing how much better a bit of lippy can make you feel.... oh, and the jade dress hack

Don't you sometimes find that even on the days when you are feeling particularly not that attractive a bit of slap can put you in such a better mood? Thank god for going out for dinner as an excuse rather than just wearing it round the house (though of course there is nothing wrong with that if its making you feel good!).

So anyway... you remember the jade prom dress I made which is for a wedding we are attending next weekend? Well, those halter straps, lets face it, a girl like me needs a bra and I wasn't feeling all that comfortable (or happy) with the dress showing of my straps. What to do about it? Hack off the straps and replace them with some new ones of course. Thankfully the straps from the georgia pattern were perfect for this so I just needed to cut them out and replace them.

The dress pattern allowed for this pretty easily so I attached the straps on the back first then tried the dress on so I could get the length and the placement of the straps just where I needed them to be in the front. This turned out to be a great way to do it, and I will definitely do this with my next version of georgia as it turned out to be a bit like goldilocks... the first ones being too long and the second too short.

So now I can wear my dress with straps and even if its the hottest of hot days when we go off to the wedding next weekend I can wear the dress without the need for a bolero! yippee!

And just because they deserve a picture of their very own... check out the shoes, I so made the dress to match these babies! I LOVE them, they are such a pretty colour. BTW, my legs are not this pale, its just bad photo editing on my part, though I think they were quiet pasty tights.

A Jade Prom Dress

 

Happy Easter Monday. I hope you still have some chocolate left over and haven't pigged it all just yet! Its been great having these days off., me and the Mr haven't done a great deal this weekend, just caught up with some stuff, seen the family etc. Its been nice just to have some time to chill out. One of the fruits of me having this time was that I managed to finish off some sewing. YeHa!

So I bring you my jade lace prom dress which I have been making ready to wear to a wedding in the summer. Now I promise you this was a pure coincidence, but when I was pinning this together I realised the wedding is actually the wedding of our friend Jade, and my dress is Jade! How perfect is that! I swear I couldn't have planned that if I was doing it on purpose!

About the Dress:
Pattern: Prom Dress from the first Great British Sewing Bee Book
Fabric: Jade Cotton Sateen and Black Stretch Lace both from Fabricland
Size: 12
Adjustments: Shortened the straps by about 1.5 inches and removed 2 inches from the bottom

I love this dress pattern, its a really good pattern for a beginner and the fit is great for me with minimal adjustment. There are few pieces and they fit together well and in a logical order. I seriously recommend that anyone who owns this book should make up a version of this dress. I love the way it hangs in the front. I do think that I could have done with it being taken in a little bit under the arms but its not at all noticeable with a shrug on. Having made up a toile in a more sturdy fabric I do think the dress lends itself better to a stiffer fabric that I have used here  so it would be a perfect dress to make using a cotton poplin or cotton lawn for summer, or some drill/twill/brocade for winter.

This version of the dress is made using two layers of fabric, the jade cotton sateen with a layer of black stretch lace over the top. In order to make sure that the pieces didn't slip whilst sewing I decided to (painstakingly) overlock the two layers together around all the pattern pieces before I started to construct the dress. This was a big faff, and it took a while, but I do think it was worth it because I had very little difficulty sewing it up, there was very little movement between the two layers which helped a lot. I really liked working with the cotton sateen, its the first time I have ever used it and its got some great stretch to it. This would have been perfect for a version of the georgia dress.

All in all I am really pleased with this one. I have my concerns that its actually quiet thick and so it might not be perfect for a summer wedding, but if all else fails I have another wedding to attend in October so it will be perfect for that one if its too warm in July.

I will leave you with one final image of me prancing around... did you notice I don't have my hands on my hips once in this post!!