My husband’s Christmas party was this Saturday just passed. The theme was ‘dress from your favourite erathat Mitre 10 existed in’ (it was their 50th anniversary), so I chose 50’s.

I had:

3 metres of black satin backed silk shantung

1 New Look pattern #6773

24 hours before the event starts

I made:

Problems:

1. Making the assumption that because my  measurements against the pattern said I should be bigger than a 16 (huh?), I made bigger than a 16, when the 14 would have been more than sufficient. Luckily it all zips up at the back so I was able to pull it in without unpicking the lining.

2. It’s got pleats in the skirt. They looked cute on the pattern picture -awful and bustle-like on me. So I unpicked them and sewed big darts so it sat flat but was still full (this was on Saturday morning, an hour before the ‘dress deadline’ arrived).

Overall:

I am so happy with how this came out. I put boning in for the first time. Made a ‘formal’ dress for the first time. And received compliments such as ‘You made that?’. Hooray!