I let you know earlier that I finished my Belle dress. I’m quite proud of it. I’m pretty sure I beamed through the entire first day of wearing it. But I didn’t get to take pictures of it before winter break, so I held off on this post.
Luckily it only took two wearable muslins before I was able to create the real thing!
So the fabric is a performance knit that I got here from eBay in Mustard Gold.
A few months ago, I had shown you this shirt, which I used as the upper part of the dress.
I used the same pattern from my brown dress, with very few alterations. I did accidentally cut the fabric wrong, which is why I have a center front seam, but I don’t mind it!
The skirt currently is knee length, for the winter, but I’m planning to shorten it an inch or two before the con.
I love the short sleeves, and I’m pretty proud of the arm bands. First time making arm bands and everything!
And it’s got a nice big pocket!
There are some fitting issues in the back. Of course, I didn’t see these until I actually took pictures, so now I’m debating with myself over how to fix it.
I had tacked down the excess shirt fabric by hand, after using a decorative stitch to formally attach the shirt. On second thought, it was a good idea to do this, for fitting, but now that I’m looking at it, I’ll be cutting more of it off. The shirt probably won’t unravel, being a kind of knit. But this also gives me some leeway in re-fitting the back. I think the back will fit correctly if I attach the shirt back up a bit higher.
I worked over the break on the embellishments, though now I’m thinking of other ways to do the necklace.
I’m still considering removing the collar from the shirt. It’s looking a bit too Sleeping Beauty for me. Then I can make a real necklace, since it won’t be covered by the collar.
If I decide to not do that, then the designs will be sewn onto the dress.
Decisions, decisions.