party dress ahoy

My christmas prez from B. Orange is tickets to see Boston Ballet's Nutrcracker this saturday. On sunday, D and I are throwing our "2nd Annual Very Swish New Year's Eve Party". I love having an excuse to dress up, drink fancy-pants cocktails, and have friends over. Well, two dressy ocassions, and i've got nothing nice to wear! So i decided to sew my own dress. (yeah, yeah. because i am a wee bit nutz and don't have enough deadlines. shush.) Did i mention the wedding i am attending next weekend? 3 occasions in two weeks has to justify it, right?

This crazy idea is not /entirely/ my fault. I do have an accomplice. I was merely toying with the idea of sewing a dress this week, browsing patterns in the lab. Ms G got involved and decided to make one herself as well. she's an instigator, i tell you! (She met her beau at this very party last year. that's her excuse to need a pretty dress!)

One of the nice things about being grad students is that we can ditch the lab on a friday afternoon to hit the fabric stores! We both picked "new retro" dresses: butterick 4919 and butterick 4790. I picked a faux-silk shimmery number that is woven so that its silver in one light, lavender in another. (i'm hoping to also wear this dress to 3 winter/early spring weddings i've got coming up.) I found a picture of the original pattern over at the wonderful blog "A Dress A Day". Ms G picked a blue/brown silk dupioni combo that is just to-die-for.

I cut the fabric and started the major seams before we left for christmas and have worked on the rest of it most of the day today. Oh yeah, that's another nice thing about being a grad student: I can take this week off to hang out in my PJs and sew (and clean the house and get ready for the soiree) all day. If the boss asks, I officially call it "resting and relaxing before the hellish semester on the horizon".

My co-conspirator is just about finished with her dress! Its awesome. Mine is also just about finished. (picture taken while bodice and skirt were still pinned together.) Tomorrow i will finish hemming the full circle skirt (ugh!) and take a nicer picture of my dress.