Skip to main content

The dress at work and dirty rotten heels!.



The dress in action with my son and my Mum and Dad. Wearing the dress all day showed up some wearing flaws. The armholes are a bit small - easy fix as I only put bias around the armholes and drafted facings for the neckline (the pattern calls for a lining but I didn't think it necessary for a summer dress in a medium weight cotton sateen). The other problem is that the front is also too wide - I think it is the upper chest measurement - the one around where the arm are - I am really small there but apparently I think I am bigger when I sew. 

I can fix the armholes and will but the next iteration I will have to narrow it above the bust. I think I know how to do it. 

And the dirty, rotten heels? Well the shoes I wore are a black suede with embroidery on them with lovely chunky heels. My girlfriend bought them for some Doctor's ball but never wore them and gave them to me. For the last 9 years I had nowhere to wear them but I couldn't bear to give them away. My graduation was the perfect opportunity. I parked the car at QPAC (Queensland Performance Arts Centre) and walked upstairs and the heels disintegrated! So I used my GoCard and went one stop to town, got new heels and twenty minutes and $27 later I was back one stop to QPAC! They are now perfect and ready for another 10 years.

Tomorrow I have a special announcement.... if you are in or around Brisbane, make room in your stash, save your money and mark 8th and 9th August on your calendar! Thanks for all the lovely comments about my dress.

Comments

Suzy said…
Great family photos and congrats on graduating!

The dress is lovely and I love the fabric. With it being too big at the upper bust, do you do a FBA normally? I find it a lot easier to go by my upper bust measurement and do a FBA than trying to grade in the shoulders, lots easier!

Great story about the shoes! I really liked the public transport in Brisbane, so clean and easy to use. You are making me miss being up there!
Marie said…
Congratulations on your graduation and I am glad you could save the situation so easily. Your story reminds me of the time when my MIL was trying to give me some old shoes that had been given to her - lucky for me the soles had crumbled because I did not want them and she wasn't leaving without giving them to me!

Yay on the fabric sale - hopefully I can get there again this year.
Nikki said…
Looks great! And cheers up the gown no end!
Summer Flies said…
Thanks! I knew you'd know what I meant Marie! I've had no internet till now tonight so will post the details tomorrow. I didn't know heels could crumble like that.
Judith said…
What a great dress under the gown - super choice of fabric! And the show story just adds another dimension to the day...albeit a funny one!
So, am I to bookmark the 8/9 as a sickie for the benefit of my fabric stash - more than willing to do this....
Camelia Crinoline said…
Congratulations on graduating. The dress looks great. I love the print.
kbenco said…
Your dress improves the gown, congratulations! I hope you have an earlier heels occasion than 10 years, what a funny story, so good that you were early at QPAC.

Popular posts from this blog

More things I've made - part 2

Hello... welcome to part two of things I've made. I now realise there will be a part 3 as there's more I can't post tonight. These things I made last year before I went to South Korea for a holiday. The photos of the top that I made with the Vogue pattern above are down below. Don't know why Blogger won't let me move them, but I don't have time to argue with it!  Anyway, I made it with some merino French Terry I bought years ago. It is merino loops, but the outer facing part of the fabric is nylon. It's very lightweight, warm and comfortable  but not the best for this pattern as the nice high neck doesn't stay up high, but it's still really nice and useful in my warmish winter. I made it as the vest top and hemmed it and bound the armholes with some fold over elastic I bought at some markets in Lisbon in my trip last year. I put a chunky metal pink zip as the closure. I will make this again as I really like that it's not a boring old pullover. I...

More things I've made - part 3.

Well part 3 is here. First up Style 1876. Did I ever say that Style are my favourite patterns? So this one was an op shop find a long time ago. It's a great pattern. I can't remember if the bodice is cut on the bias (but I think not) and the skirt is cut on the bias. I made it out of some synthetic crepe in the most fabulous colour. It has great pockets that you can see on the red dress.. The are sewn onto the back pieces, and then when you sew it up and leave the opening, you stitch the pocket onto the inside/front of the dress. That pocket isn't going anywhere. I used up all the fabric which was a gift from a friend's mother in law. It turned out to be a bit see though and I didn't wear it. It fits so nicely around the shoulders and arm holes. I decided I was going to wear it to Brisbane Spoolettes Frocktails this year as I didn't have time to make something else. I decided that it needed something else though as it was a little too see through for me.  I had ...

YFASMA - Fabric shopping in Athens

I promised this post in March! Fabrics from Euro1 per metre! I didn't buy anything in this shop but there was some lovely fabrics. I did buy the green and pink one above on the right. A satin finish rayon. It is lovely. There was a lot of lovely fabrics in this shop. It wasn't cheap Euro 8 p.m. but I didn't have a lot of room in my bag and I wanted something I would really love. I also didn't buy anything in Paris this time. I did buy the  fabric for a table cloth  just across the way from this shop. I also bought some orange/white weave linen fabric for Euro 4 p.m. at another shop, which I think I'll make some summer trousers with.  As I was going to the airport, I saw this dress on the platform and I really liked it. Very easy to do too, I went to the  Benaki Museum  while in Athens. There is actually 2 locations. In this one I saw lots of Greek and Cypriot cultural crafts. This was a bridal bed in Crete. There was lots of clothing, embroidery and gold jewelle...