Desperately Seeking Inspiration

Here is the fabric for my gala dress!  It is a silk/wool blend from Paron Fabrics with scattered cherries!!  I asked for four yards at the cutting table, not having a clue what it might become.  It turned out there were only five plus yards left on the bolt, and the cutter gave me the extra yardage for no charge.  What?!  That happened again at Metro Textile . . . no wonder everyone likes to buy fabric in the New York garment district!  (I guess it was meant to be, because four yards would not have been enough for this project.)

The next step was finding a suitable pattern.

I already have a poofy cherry print dress, so my first inclination was to go for something à la the forties, with a long, slim-fitting skirt.  Nothing in my pattern collection was right, though.  I was looking online for days, but nothing jumped out at me.

So I went back to the fabric.  The silk/wool blend has quite a bit of body, so my initial inspiration was just not going to work.  And since cherry prints have a definite fifties vibe, I gave up the fight and decided to listen to the fabric that wants to be a full-skirted dress.

Mrs. Depew Vintage has quite a few reproduction patterns available for download, and I narrowed it down to about six gowns, slept on it, and came back with fresh eyes.  In the end, I could not decided between two of them, so I am using my favorite parts of both designs.  Take that, indecision!