It is going to be The Purpleblueorange Firebird dress!

Some time ago I started on the test dress I am making to develop a pattern for my daughter’s Matric Farewell dress. That is half finished and enduring daily judgement on my dressform, but I should not to show the thing anywhere remotely resembling social media, because a matric Farewell Dress should be a Deeply Guarded Secret For Which Thou Might Die If Thou Revealest It.

She did however, NOT fall for the green-and-grey colour combination of the test dress as a final solution, as I had hoped. Then the dress-bill for this event would have stopped R500.

The thing is: she had another inspiration pic. (Photo credit: Pinterest. It is an Elie Saab dress.)  The sleeveless test dress-bodice – adjusted from the vintage Jessica McClintock pattern discovered in quaint museum shop hidden away on a farm in Kwazulu-Natal, when we were on holiday –  was still first choice, but she now wanted this skirt, or something like it:

For which I was willing to hand-stain at least 4 metres of 100% silk chiffon at R35o/m. Risky business, but I was actually aching to do it so we went shopping for virgin white silk today.

Instead we found this: (The photos do NOT do it justice…this fabric is actually ALIVE!)

Love at First Sight for her, and it cost R100 p/m less than the white AND I will not run the risk of ruining it by attempting to stain it myself!

You can picture me dancing to the cutting table, waving and swirling fabric from the roll in childlike wonder while my daughter begs me to please not make such a fool of myself in the store.

But this fabric does that to you!  It has this fantastic movement and colour variation that makes you feel like you are holding purple-orange-blue fire in your hands.  I swear.

Ka-ching!!! We are in business!