Simplicity 2253- Prom dress!

From the days my daughter was a little girl, when I blissfully sewed her cute little cotton dresses with ruffle prints and lace, I dreamed of the day I'd make her a prom dress.  Enter 2012....and the day has arrived. 

This was a fun journey, through three patterns, two muslins...and finally ending up with:

The pattern is a one shoulder fitted (very fitted) dress with a side zipper.  Made out of an irridescent purple shantung fabric of unknown fabric content that changed texture when touched by the iron at any heat.  Alternating inserts of a sequined mesh overlaid on the shantung added for bling.

Loved how it turned out though!   Made a few mistakes....1) made the muslin out of rayon challis, which turned out to be a bad idea...it gave quite a bit more than the final fabric, and fit nicely.  When I made the dress out of the shantung, the fully interfaced bodice was as stiff as a board, and was about 3 inches too small!!!  2) Always measure the finished LENGTH of a piece of fabric after the iron hits it..because sometimes it shrinks!!  When the first version was done, it was short- really short...so I didn't mind making it again for that reason alone!!

I learned lots...1) Invisible zippers are a piece of cake, I had never done one before and was so impressed with it! I'll definitely make more stuff with zippers now.  2) My machine (Pfaff 7570 that I have barely used the fabulous functions of...embarrassingly) does an amazing blind hem!  3) Muslins are not a waste of time, but will certainly use a fabric of similar texture next time! 

The pleated ruffle thing at the shoulder was pretty much an improv item, and the pattern says as much...it says "place it similar to the pattern envelope" or something like that, so I did.  I finished sewing this on while my daughter was getting her hair and make up done.

Here's a back view! Sorry about the pile of bricks, we're in the middle of another project right now!