V1183 and my 30 year reunion

This weekend was my 30 year high school reunion.  The dress is my version of Kay Unger's V1183.  I used stretch cotton poplin from JoAnn's.  The center back seam is matched below the waist.  I hand stitched it with invisible thread.  My husband was so proud of me, he made it a point to announce to everyone at the after party (there were seven of us) that I made my dress.  What a guy!  Isn't he cute?

My Wonderful Husband

Yearbook Photo from 1983

All better now

I recut the the off grain side.  Here it is. Honestly, it was a chore to do. I melted it with my iron and had to clean my iron and recut it yet again. By the time I got it sewed together, I was so sick of it that I wasn't even going to photograph it.
I mentioned I have a class reunion coming up, right? Well I decided to sew a sleeveless Kay Unger design in a stretch cotton I found at JoAnn's. Here is the pattern.

I modified a custom princess dress pattern to add the midriff.  You can see that I have more coverage at the front and back armscye.  I also omitted the back vent and lengthened the skirt.  In front, I lengthened the waist darts to accommodate my (ahem) athletic thighs.

This is the fabric I am using:

Here are some of the pieces cut and ready to sew:

In other news, I finished my recent contract and have turned my attention back to pattern drafting and grading. I couldn't be happier. I only have a couple of patterns completed, but soon, I will do a quiet launch of my website. Soon...

So... I sewed. A little.

I have been crazy busy this last month. I have had to put my pattern company plans on hold. I am doing some contract work helping a company meet a deadline in mid April and another in late May. That means almost all of my productive time is going to fulfill my contract and I am too tired to grade patterns or blog or sew. I did manage to draft a pattern for a surplice sleeveless shell, but in my haste, I cut the front left on the wrong grain. I have enough fabric to cut another left front. I wish I had enough time to fix it! Here is a picture. We'll call this one "BEFORE". Stay tuned for the "AFTER"... -->