The dress is from the fabulous 1934 Wearing History Pattern called 'Manhattan Melodrama'. It's a fantastic pattern--I did buy the last one! However Lauren said she might bring it back if some of you want to give it a go! Let us know in the comments!
This was my first time ever grading a pattern (see this post) AND my first time ever making a gown!
The fabric is a great crepe back satin (both the red and pink) and I really enjoyed working with it. I would love to make something from the crepe side one of these days!
Here's more details of the back. There is a neck zipper hidden under the middle panel:
Here's a clearer shot of the back. I really adore how it is constructed. I did make things a bit more difficult by making this dress into separates. I really wanted to wear the blouse on it's own and to use it as part of the Sewing Through the Decades challenge. So I added a zipper on the side of the blouse and made the skirt separate (with it's own zipper).
However, one of the things I hadn't anticipated in making the top separate from the dress was the ability to get the waist portion over my head. When making as a full dress, there is a side opening that extends the length of the blouse and part of the skirt. I had already inserted a small zipper (that didn't quite extend the whole length of the blouse side) as well as a zipper in the neck back (under the panel). However, I went to put it on and I couldn't get the waist bit over my head! EEK. I started to unpick the zipper and was going to put in a continuous lap with snaps down the whole side. Luckily, David suggested I should put a zipper (upside down--i.e. with the head of the zipper at the waist bottom) on the other side of the blouse. As luck would have it, I had another of the exact same zipper (from a great charity shop find). So, that is why this outfit has 4 zippers! (3 in the blouse and one in the skirt). That solved the problem perfectly with only a small amount of work!
We went to the Voodoo Rooms for our Valentine's Day dinner. They have a fantastic space.
Here's a photo of the front of the building:
And inside the main bar area. I really love the windows:
And the ceiling lamps:
We are so made for each other! I love this photo:
And David gave me a beautiful brooch from the 1930's as a sweet present....how lovely is that? I am wearing it on the neck of the dress in the photos! David is going to do a guest post 'Behind the Scenes' sometime this week! That should be lots of fun!
As an added bonus, the faux fur jacket I made two weeks ago went together perfectly with the dress!
