My Little Red Dress Challenge!

A little red dress?  Oh, I love pretty dresses.  They give you such a feeling when you slip them on, like a special occasion is about to happen.  One thing I love about dresses such as this is they can be dressed up or down, depending on the accessories.  Throw on a cardigan and flats, and you have a much more casual outfit than if you wear heels and blingy jewelry.

I had at least ten patterns pulled out before deciding on one.  Actually, the pattern I ended up completing wasn't exactly my first choice but I do love my finished dress!  My fitting assistant, aka DH, was out of town and I needed a second set of hands to help!  After consulting with DD1 and 2, Simplicity 2648 became my final project.  I've made this up before and it is an amazing fit pattern which I typically have very good luck with.

 So, for the fabric.  I used a Red Scuba Knit from Hancock's for this dress.  The color is what I feel is a true blue under-toned red.  The weight of the knit and the heft of it feel just lovely on my skin!
I made view C with the rounded neckline and view A's little belt detail.   Of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone, so I made a just-the-right-size embroidery with tone-on-tone thread on the front under the lowest part of the neckline.  And, there was just the right spot for a Swarovski crystal, so I added that as well!

Now, please don't scold me, I know that the amazing fit patterns have a one-inch seam allowance to allow for fitting as you sew, but this dress was HUGE!  I took in 1.5 inches along each side seam, a 1 inch swayback adjustment and the cap sleeves were taken in an extra 1/2 inch as well.  The waistline still looked and felt too wide, so I took in the princess seams along the front 1/2 inch on each side. The hem I let out by an inch and a half as I thought it would be shorter than I wanted.  You don't want to have to yank your dress down while sitting and the little extra length will eliminate that problem for me.  

What I do notice in my photos is that I need some new spanx! What I have just doesn't suck in as much so you have that sleek figure that eliminates undergarment lines!

I thought about eliminating the facings at the neckline and armholes but I really like the clean finish rather than what a binding would give this dress.  I may change my mind and switch the facings out for binding!

One thing that created an unintentional challenge was the pressing of a fabric that isn't supposed to be exposed to high heat.  Oh why did I fall in love with the color and feel of a fabric before thinking of pressing?

So, part of this challenge was to create a story about your dress.  Here's mine.  Every February, I have an extended break from work and my husband and I use that time to visit our oldest daughter and son-in-law whom are now living in Louisiana.  She lives about an hour from New Orleans, and while we are there, I'd love to double date and go to a lovely restaurant in the French Quarter!  It will be fun for us girls to wear special dresses and go out for dinner and hopefully some dancing!  And, in case you are wondering, I did test the dress for dance-ability and yep, it works!

So, what do you think of a little red dress?  Does it work like a little black dress?  I think my husband was hoping for something more revealing but this is what he got!

Thanks for reading!  Head over to the Fabric Mart Fabricista sewing challenge blog (here) for voting on Wednesday and Thursday and vote for your favorite which is hopefully me!

Sue :)