The look on Mr O’s face was a picture following my little I’ve-got-absolutely-nothing-to-wear tantrum on Friday evening. The undulating range of handmade dresses strewn across the floor and the bed said otherwise. It was Rachel’s hen night on Saturday. To be attended by various gorgeous sewing bloggers who would all be adorned with their own spectacular creations.
“So make one, then” was the ridiculous response.
“Er… It’s Friday. The hen do is tomorrow?” I replied, teenage-style, deepened yet rising in intonation.
A roll of the eyes. No sympathy. A simple shift dress appears in my head. Some crazy tropical fabric follows in the next mind scene. Mission Ooobop-new-dress are go!
I run upstairs dig out Simplicity 4687 from the neatly labelled ‘vintage 1950s’ box of sewing patterns (believe that and you’ll believe anything!) and following an exhausting rummage, retrieve said fabric from stash. I pinned and cut it out right there and then. Winging it. No adjustments. No time.
Saturday morning and I’m all over it like a nettle rash. One front, two backs, 3 facings 10 darts(!) and Bob was my uncle! Walkaway dress, eat your heart out!
Lack of lining, overlocker on form and an invisible zipper foot all helped to speed up the process. And thanks to the ample ease that Simplicity ensures, the only alteration I had to make was to loose a few inches on the bust. I took them out at the side seams just under the armhole. Next time I’ll be sure to grade it properly.
Incidentally this is the first time I’ve used my invisible zipper foot and I won’t be looking back as unanimously claimed by many a Twitter follower when I put the question of ‘was it worth it’ out for debate! I mostly referred to the price tag of £13 which seemed a bit hefty for a little foot. But boy does it make zip insertion a breeze. So quick and so neat. You’d never see any evidence at all if it wasn’t for lack of pattern matching! Certainly no time for that!
The hen do was a roaring success, thanks to the brilliant and selfless organising skills of the amazing Miss Demeanour. And Rachel looked amazing as evs as she boogied the night away, totally unfazed by us all wearing our Rachel masks and assuming the ‘Rachel signature pose’ at every given opportunity. I can assure you it was terrifying!
As you can imagine, any photos taken last night of me in my new dress, would at best have been blurry but mostly ungainly so Mr O has come to my rescue by rustling up these photos today. I can tell you that the sunglasses are a necessary accessory!
So thank you to Daniel, not only for the photos but for raising that red rag to this bull and ensuring I had something to wear after all! 😉
The colours are glorious. Such a speedy make! looks like a great night out too ;o)
Thank you Colette. It was lots of fun 🙂
LOL. Love the dress (the fabric is gorgeous) and the post! Well done Mr O for the photography and the red rag!
Thanks Jen! He’s very good with those rags. I fall for it every time!
I love the dress. I have just had a faff free sewing project and it was just such a pleasure. I may be looking into the sewing foot, but I dare say I don’t need it.
Thank you. It should have really been a lapped zipper of course but I only had an invisible one to hand!
Lovely dress! I have been on the hunt for the perfect tropical print piece for a while now!
Thank you Alana. I think I got it from the shop 2 doors down from A-One. Will drop you a line if I see it. x
Almost anyone who says invisible zips are hard hasn’t, I imagine, tried an invisible zipper foot. I wouldn’t want to try and insert one without the special foot but with it they’re such a breeze.
The dress looks an awesome outcome for such last-minute sewing! I find that either turns out really well or really, really badly.
Thank you Sophie-Lee. I’ll second that! It was an each way bet as to how it would turn out but I’m happy with the end result! 🙂
What a fabulous dress, fabric, colours! I love this simplicity! You look awasom!
Thank you Beata 🙂
Success! What gorgeous fabric, love the colors 🙂
Thank you. There’s not much colour going on in my wardrobe save for red and black so it does make a nice change!
WOW it’s amazing and love the whole story too.
OK, so shift dressing could be my quick and easy pattern to look out for! I got a cheapie invisible foot from one of the many online Chinese local stores… and it is SO AMAZING … I used to think my ‘invisible zippers’ were totally invisible before. durh!
Thanks Veronica. I think I was lucky with the fit and also it helps to have a bit of stretch in case the fit is a bit snug! 🙂
Can’t believe you whipped this up so quickly! And I can verify that it looked great on the dance floor.
Why thank you gorgeous! As did your immensely sexy number! x
Just gorgeous! And no-one in their right mind will look for that pattern match anyway!
Thank you. I did try as I had more than enough fabric but there was definitely something awry with the pattern repeat. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!
Ooh snap http://bettystitchup.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/one-pattern-many-dresses.html
Love the fabric 🙂 looks great with this pattern and really suits you. Great thing about it being so busy you really don’t need to worry about pattern matching. I’m a recent convert to the invisible zip, it’s the only way I can get a zip to look neat and not pucker.
Great minds and all that! Thanks Betty. Love yours too. I felt a bit guilty about not doing a lapped zipper but the new invisible foot made it such a joy and so quick!
Had to stop by to say…So lovely, so lovely on you, and so lovely for Mr. O to be such an instigator!!! And, I NEED that fabric! And, may I add, your waistline (I’m working on that last part!). I live in Phoenix, Arizona, which is in the desert, and there is certainly a desert of fabric stores as well, sigh.
Thank you so much Cherie 🙂
Hi! I really like the fabric and this dress just looks gorgeous on you! When looking at the original pattern I would have never thought of using a Hawaiian looking print. What a great idea!
Thanks Kathy. The fabric came first! I needed a design that least interrupted the pattern!
My friends are trying to tell me nobody wears colour in England. What rubbish! Beautiful dress that just celebrates the season.
Haha… Thank you Gail. I think that is mostly the case in the winter, in London. Lots of black and grey suits and coats. That’s mostly why I made this coat http://vg9.14e.mywebsitetransfer.com/my-vintage-dreamcoat/ 🙂
we all wore colour and people were so complimentary of the day outfits. it was so much fun
The less is more! Minimalistic dress plus color splash equals statement, very successful statement and on a such a short notice. It’s a motivating example of fast finished project that is stylish and fits excellent!
Such lovely feedback, thank you 🙂