Silk Christmas Dress

I had some beautiful silk fabric given to me and I knew just what to do with it- a Christmas dress for LJ! The bodice and sash are a rich jewel-tone pink, and the bottom is cream with a circle pattern embroidered on featuring greens, pinks, and reds. While not completely traditional holiday colors, I think it works because of the quality of the fabric, and of course pink is in the red family.

(Sorry for the poor photo quality, my nice camera is at my mom's so this is from my BlackBerry!)

I used "The Party Dress" tutorial from The Cottage Mama. I modified it slightly by leaving off the bottom band of fabric and making it shorter. I also constructed the bodice in a slower way because of using that slippery silk- I sewed the skirt onto the outside bodice piece first to make sure it all was perfect from the outside. Then I pinned the lining over it to sandwich the skirt between and "stitched in the ditch" to attach the lining. It took longer, but looked perfect. (This part is under the sash, so it doesn't matter really though, haha!)

My only other suggestion is to make the sash piece wider- in her picture the sash looked really wide, but on my finished dress it was much more narrow. It still looks pretty, but I would have preferred the wider look. I should have noticed when cutting it out but oh well!

Here is the back:

I LOVE the covered buttons- it is a must I think for the more formal look. If you are doing a casual version of the dress then you could pass, but it really looks beautiful and professional.

I highly recommend this pattern- be sure to check out her other tutorials. She also recently started selling patterns too.

I wish I had a picture of her wearing it to show you, but every time I ask her she says "No, I fine." I don't want to wrestle her into the silk and end up with a wrinkled up snot-covered mess, haha!

("Oooh, pretty buttons Mama!")

Merry Christmas to you and your families, and if you don't celebrate Christmas, Merry Winter!