And here is the finished dress!
I have already worn this dress twice - the debut was at the de Young Museum for the Ramses exhibit. I felt like the gold metallic bits woven into the brocade was a nice call back to the use of gold by the ancient Egyptians. Perhaps that's a tenuous connection, but it felt like the best match in my closet to the theme of the exhibit. And, most recently, I wore the dress to a Marin Symphony concert.
Which says a lot for the dress! I don't often repeat wearing my more formal outfits within a month of creating them.
As for the alterations that I made (most notably, eliminating the waist ties) I think they were quite successful.
And after having a bit of disappointment regarding the impossibility of cutting long sleeves with my limited yardage, I think the dress ended up turning out as it should.
I would have loved to have those long bishop sleeves, but these short puffed ones work quite nicely with the fabric.
Speaking of the fabric . . . this silk/acetate/metallic brocade drapes and moves so nicely. And while it did fray a whole lot, it was much easier to work with than anticipated.
As for the print itself, I believe it is meant to be some kind of animal print, although I couldn't tell you which animal has these particular style of markings!
I have never thought of myself as an animal print sort of person, and the fact that this fabric made it into my cart was a bit of a surprise. Using this project as a test case, I am going to call my addition of animal prints to my wardrobe a success.
In fact, I have had a vintage silk jacquard animal print blouse hanging in my closet for a few years and I have just recently started wearing it, thanks in no small part to this dress. Go figure!
I may have to make myself a more casual version of this pattern; I am thinking that a knee length version in rayon would be nice.
That would give me an opportunity to try the dress with the ties as it was originally designed.
But this particular pattern is a winner! I don't often make up a pattern within a year of its release so it's not often that I can recommend a pattern that is still available, but for those of you on the fence about this one . . . I say, go for it!
