The Little Black Magic Dress

I made a LBD! Never thought I’d do it, but I was so thankful I did.  Mc Calls 6886.  Legendary pattern.

It was for a function to which I was planning to wear something much more shiny. I am so glad I rather went for this in the end! I was almost overdressed as it was! But I still had to add a touch of artistic bling to the basic magic of M6886:

First I cut out shapes and tried a design…

…and then tried some more…

When it looked right I positioned lace, held in place on a black mesh facing, behind the shapes….

The nicest moment was when I sewed the facing in to turn it over. It looked just so magical:

After turning in the facing I made certain it (and the lace scraps) was perfectly positioned behind the shapes. Looks like acupuncture, doesn’t it?

Then I basted it securely in place. Look at the original inspiration for the idea – the earring with its leaf setting.

I basted the shapes in place before stitching around them with metallic thread. At this point I planned to use stabiliser underneath, and I FORGOT. So it puckered a bit )-;

But after cutting away the black layer to reveal the lace, an d a good ironing, it was fine. But I thought it needed another stitching after this.

Why is it that I never get around to taking really, really good full-length pictures of things I am proud of during the ACTUAL WEARING? Best I got, was one my husband took of me after we got home. This is to brag with my shoes. which cost 5 times as much as the fabric for the dress. And yes, I know it is bad manners to speak about how much your shoes cost, but THIS IS WHY WE SEW, right?

Ai, unfortunately he is not much of a photographer.

Edit: I later found this not-too-bad one of the dress at the event. Note the dress, not the hit-by-a-bus facial expression:

 

I am going to frame this dress, nevermind a picture of it (-;

A momento of a very special evening.