Marfy 1776, complete!

Hubs, Kiddos, and I leave bright and early in the morning for a South American adventure (primarily to go to my brother-in-law's wedding).  So... here is the formal wedding guest dress.

I am quite proud, having made a formal gown and two cocktail dresses in the past month. 

 The top is Marfy 1776, unaltered.  I explained a bit about it in this post, and I showed what a Marfy pattern looks like here.  The lace-looking fabric is a novelty, open-weave silk.  The solid portions of the top are a drapey crepe (can't remember if it is silk or poly) that I got at Marisu Miranda Moda/Queen's Fabrics in Tampa.  The lining is ambiance. 

 The skirt and top are separate pieces.  I originally tried to connect them and keep the two-piece look, but I couldn't get the skirt un-poofy enough.  This skirt has an A-line shape that I think is more sophisticated than my first, gathered attempt.  The skirt is a bit long in these photos.  I have since gotten some higher heels to wear.

 Another challenge I am glad I attempted.  I'm very happy with how it came out, and my husband seems thrilled.  I'm not convinced the halter-style top is a friend to my broad shoulders, but he likes it, and that makes me happy.  :-)

 I couldn't find a nice, red separating zipper in the right length for the top (if such a thing even exists), but luckily (in this instance, anyway), my bust is a bit smaller than my hips, so I used a regualar invisible zipper and just sewed the bottom two inches closed.  I slip it over my head and zip it up.  I now consider myself quite skilled at making boned foundations.  :-)

Marfy 1776 complete!

Here's a first look at Marfy 1776, complete! 

Obviously, I have to finish the skirt to get the whole look. :-)  I originally tried a gathered skirt attatched under the top to make it all one piece, but I didn't like how it poofed out right under the top.  Way too "princess" for this almost-30-year-old.  I've settled on an A-line separate skirt, which just needs a lining and zipper to be complete.

Wow, was this a challenge!  I don't think I've ever resewn so many seams in my life, but I wanted this to be as close to perfect as possible.  I'll save the nitty gritty details until I have the whole look together.  This has been hanging up for a few days and could use another pressing.  I also plan to use that special garment tape to tape the cups to my skin.  I don't want my strapless bra to peek out, and you can probably tell this is quite plungeing.

The structure I used worked really well: fashion fabric underlined with cotton flannel to camoflague the boning.  The boning is underneath, on the interfaced lining.  This method of construction worked so well that I'm using the same on my blue lace dress (also almost complete).

Any ideas on a hairstyle?  I think I need an updo, but not sure what I'll do now that my hair is pretty short. 

Navy Lace Dress Progress

Thank you for the comments on my dilemma.  :-)  For the moment, I've decided on swooshier one (1776) because I have a lovely fabric for it already and can't think of another occasion when I could make this dress.  I'm sure I'll get the short, sleek one made up soon, and maybe I wouldn't like the proportions of it were long... at least that's what I'm telling myself. 

Lois, I really like the striking black and white version of 2608 but wouldn't choose those colors for a dress to wear to a wedding.  I do think I'll keep the color block concept but maybe go with subtler colors.

In the meantime, I've started work on my navy lace dress, which I'll wear to a dinner before the wedding.  I made a muslin out of some inexpensive blue lace.  My starting point is Vogue 7852, which is out of print (and my mom used as the starting point for my wedding gown).  The pattern isn't up on the Vogue website anymore and when I googled for a pic, Erica B's was the first to come up.  :-)

Here is my muslin, which I neglected to photograph on me before cutting apart.

 I only had to tweek the neckline and shoulder seems, which is pretty awesome considering I cobbled together a lace bodice with a princess seamed strapless dress to make this darted sheath shape.

 I cut the darts apart on the seamlines, too, so they'd lay flat and open.

I laid my pieces on top of my nice lace, took a deep breath, and cut, leaving a 5/8" seam allowance to make French seams down the road. 

  For the darts, I used red thread to thread trace them.  This was super easy and pretty fast since the darts were open.  If you squint, maybe you can see the red thread in this photo below.



I have since stitched the darts in my dress and then decided I needed a quick tee shirt project, which I'll finish up tonight.  If I keep needing quick little projects in the middle, I'll have trouble finishing this and my gown in a month!  Not to mention the 15 other things I'd like to make for the trip.  :-)

Marfy Gown Patterns

So, you can imagine my excitement on finding out that a wedding I'm going to in October requires Formal attire!  I plan to use the navy lace in this post for a knee-length dress (which I'm working on muslining) but I'm told full-length is the way to go for this wedding, so back to the drawing board for that.  With Hubs' help, I narrowed down the pattern possibilities to two Marfys, both of which are on their way to my hot little hands.

2608 - I would need to do a floor-length skirt obviously, but I love the top of this one.  If I don't go with this pattern, I'll definitely be making another much-needed (ha, yeah right!) cocktail dress from it.

1776 - Again, I'll need a different skirt (this is actually flowy pants - yikes!) but I'm digging this top.  The only part I'm not sure about is the halter strap.  It's not the most flattering for my broad shoulders, but I could always change that to regular straps in the muslin stage.

So please, please put your pick in the comments.  Sophisticated and sleek or fun and pretty?  Or do you hate them both?  Feel free to pipe up with that as well.  :-)  Thanks!

Either way, I feel a downtown Tampa fabric shopping excursion in my near future.