A last-minute win!
As soon as the tickets for Tulsa Garden Center’s “Glasshouse Gold Gatsby” party went on sale, I purchased my ticket and blocked off my weekend! I’ve been so eager to have more opportunities to dress in historical costume, and especially in so gorgeous a place as the Mansion at Woodward Park!
I didn’t really have anything suitable to wear but thought I might make “the 1-hour dress” from my measurements. If you don’t know, the 1-Hour Dress is a notably easy make. It’s basically a T shape based on your measurements. Two seams and finishing the edges and you’re done, no paper pattern needed, nor structure nor closures.
I cut everything out per my measurements with an extra inch for seam allowance, but something must have gone awry because when I tried it on for the first time, it fit HORRIBLY.
Then, I thought of the Fokwear Patterns Paris Promenade Dress, which I had made for a friend about 5 years ago. I riffled through my patterns and found that I did still have it, with all the pieces accounted for. Hooray new plan! I wanted to use a white/light blue striped cotton linen blend from Wholesale Fabric Direct.
Except…. I didn’t have enough. Thankfully I didn’t cut in to the fabric this time, but I sat and stared at that fabric for a long time, trying to figure how to lay everything out while dealing with directional stripes. It just wouldn’t work.
I had enough of a black crepe back satin and black/gold embroidered tulle - but wanted to save that for another project. So, Friday night at 6:00, I set off for JoAnn’s in a panic.
JoAnn’s pricing baffles me and, I believe, is meant to be confusing and misleading. So, having no idea which of several pretty options was the most afforable, I hauled 6 different options to the cutting table (heavy special occasion fabric, too). I’m sure the employees weren’t too happy at that, but I was one a budget! When all was said and done, I went with the most affordable option at $55 total. That’s what you get for shopping in a panic. I spent most of my sewing time worrying that it was going to look like an expensive pile of cheap trash.
To an experienced sewist’s eye it may still be that - it’s completely polyester and it does pucker a lot around the seams. But I used the “wrong” side of the fabric to avoid plastic shine, and I think it passes for pretty, especially among non-sewists.
The real champion was Folkwear Patterns, because the dress’s design is so flattering and beautiful, and it went together in 3 hours so I didn’t even have to panic finish it on Saturday afternoon before the event that night.
I’m happy with my final result, but I do hope I’ll have more chances to wear this dress, since I spent $55.