Let the LBD begin

I don't know why it is, but the well-formed curved seam is just a thing of beauty to me. :-)
The darts are sewn in the lining and the dress.  This took me a couple of hours tonight!  Not only are the darts a pain to pin, they are also a pain to press.  The sewing wasn't bad.  But all of those curved seams require notching - which takes twice as long as clipping.  And you have to do that too!  I also pinked the seam allowances since both the lining and the dress fabric would fray.  Now, the hardest part is done.  Next I will put in the invisible zipper and then assemble the rest of the dress.

I was hoping to finish in time to meet the deadline for the Little Black Dress contest over on PR, but that's not going to happen.  Tomorrow I have a staff meeting after work and then an appointment with the trainer at the gym.  Then I will be frosting and decorating cupcakes for the school fundraiser.  Friday night is the school carnival, DH's birthday, and the deadline.  So, other things win out, but I wasn't entering to win.  It gave me the motivation I needed to make the dress, so I'm still going to get it done this weekend I hope.  We are going to a Christmas party the following weekend, so I plan to wear it to that. Hmmmm  I think I'll have to buy some new shoes!

I had almost forgotten, but it is about that time to start the SWAP over at Stitcher's Guild.  I hope to actually complete the darn thing this year!!  I have so many things I want to make, and the rules are pretty flexible this year, and you basically are making 2 mini-capsules with one connecting piece.  I'm going to try to make up a story board this weekend and get it posted.  My tentative plan is using patterns from

• Colette - clover pants
• Hot Patterns - jeans
• Loes Hinse - cap sleeve top
• Gertie - Portrait blouse
• The Sewing Workshop - Mimosa Pants
• Silhouette Patterns - Anns top and Sharon's blouse 

These are the TSW Mimosa pants on the left.





















There are still a few tops I haven't decided on, and I have a couple of ideas for the "cross-over" piece. I'm either going to do a black and white boucle jacket from Either the Louise Cutting Acute Angle (bottom) or The Sewing Workshop's Now and Zen jacket (right).


























If I find a fabric that I really like, I'd love to do this Vogue Sandra Betzina Coat.