Or more accurately, the Christmas dress that almost didn’t get made.
Let’s start from the beginning. Around 3 years ago I bought the most ADORABLE reindeer cocktail party fabric from Joann’s along with a bolt of lining fabric with the intention of making a Christmas dress that year. Well, if you know me, you know how I procrastinate so it’s probably no surprise that I didn’t make one.
Fast forward to last year. Dave and I were planning on having friends over for Christmas, so I knew it would be the best opportunity to grab that fabric out of the closet and make the most perfect dress.
I decided to use Butterick 4512, which is a re-release of a 1957 pattern:
View C was calling my name!
(note: I swapped out the circle skirt for a gathered skirt, and added pockets)
Although I planned this project a good 2 weeks in advance, in typical Jen style I didn’t start sewing until the morning of the party.
I was running into trouble with the fit from the get-go, partly because I re-drafted the back to come up a bit higher (I think if I were to make this pattern again, I would bring it up even higher to accommodate a bra and maybe add some boning).
Thankfully, with a little finagling, I was able to get it to work.
Then, we got to my least favorite part of sewing: zipper installation. And at this point guests were due to arrive in about an hour. Unfortunately, as I was putting it in I sewed a little too close to the teeth of the invisible zipper, making it so I couldn’t zip it up.
I assessed the time it would take to rip out the zipper, re-do it, then hem the full skirt, and decided it just wasn’t going to happen. I threw on my handmade Christmas dress from the previous year, and put my beautiful 90% completed dress onto the dress form. If I couldn’t wear it, I could at least display it, right?
Okay, now fast forward one more time to this year. Dave and I were once again throwing a Christmas party so I took the unfinished dress out of the closet and was excited to finally fix that zipper so I could wear it.
Guess when I started working on it…
…That’s right! The morning of the party! But this time it would be easy since it was almost finished, right? Well, I didn’t consider that since last year I gained around an inch and a half in my waist. I had to unpick the side seams and try to re-fit the entire bodice and lining. There was barely enough fabric to make it work, and when I was done the zipper was pulling and the back looked terrible.
I’ve watched enough episodes of Project Runway to know that when part of your garment looks bad, you simply cover it up. I hemmed the dress and threw on a cardigan literally minutes before guests arrived, and I have to admit, it was a pretty cute look 🙂
Our party was a week before Christmas, so that actually gave me time to properly fix and finish the dress before we went to see my in-laws in NJ. I didn’t have time to tack down the lining before the party, so I was able to sew in some cups so I wouldn’t have to worry about a bra. I also fixed the pulling near the zipper, with the narrowest seam allowance possible without it falling apart.
I considered shortening the torso (it’s about an inch too long for me), but I honestly didn’t want to mess around with the dress anymore. At that point, I called it done! 🙂
Sorry for such a long story! I really love how it came out, despite my issues.
I’m hoping to post again soon, with the tale of my New Year’s Eve dress (though I’m sure you can guess how that went! lol!)
Dress: made by me 🙂 (Butterick B4512 pattern and fabric from Joann Fabrics)
Belt: borrowed from another dress
Tights: Primark
Shoes: Â B.A.I.T. Black Roni Heel via Modern Millie Shop
Hair Accessory: made by me 🙂 (I glued a plastic sprig to a hair clip)
Petticoat: Amazon
