I finished the Sew Weekly challenge!!

I can't believe I made it!  I just finished my last Sew Weekly challenge outfit!  It's been a crazy ride and many days I wasn't sure I would make it but.... I officially made it through a whole year of sewing weekly!

This week, in celebration, I thought it was the perfect time to use the pattern I received from the lovely Trish through the Sew Weekly Sewing Circle pattern swap organised by the amazing Kat.

This is the lovely package I got in the swap.  It included an adorable 1950's dress pattern (Butterick 8132), a vintage tea towel (not pictured) and some lovely buttons including two large coconut buttons:

It's such a lovely pattern and was a dream to sew up.  I used some more of the red velvet curtains I used for the ruffled collars and cuffs from last week's outfit.  I took the advice of several commenters on my Scarlett O'Hara dress and ended up pressing the velvet on top of another piece of velvet and it worked like a charm. Thank you!

The dress has three panels in the front and three in the back.  The sleeves are cut in one with the dress so it's really quick to sew up. I absolutely adore this velvet fabric.  It feels like a cotton velvet but it is fairly lightweight and a dream to sew with.  The lining of the curtain is actually fused to the velvet--so it acts as a underlining of sorts.  I changed my needle to a size 11 to work with this fabric and found that was perfect.

This dress has lots of hand sewing... I hand picked the zipper and also hand basted the white bow trim before sewing it on.  The part that took the longest on this dress was the hem!  It required loads of fitting and adjusting of the hem, not to mention that pressing velvet is a slow process.  Since the fabric is a bit thicker and the dress is quite full, I ended up hand basting gathering stitches on the hem.  Then I drew those up and sewed seam binding over the edge before hand hemming the dress.  I think the hem alone took about 3 hours!

Last Giveaway of 2011
As has been the tradition around these parts, I am offering up this pattern for another sewist to give it a shot! It's really a great pattern.  It's a size B32 but since it has princess seam lines and so many panels, it is really easy to grade up by adding just a small amount extra to the seam allowances and it doesn't loose it's shape.  

As with other giveaways, this is open to my readers everywhere.  Just leave a comment on this post answering the question: Which outfit that I've made this year has been your favourite?  I can't wait to hear which ones you liked best!!

The giveaway will close at midnight on January 2nd and I'll pick the winner by random.

Here's to another year of sewing! Thank you all for your lovely comments and support!!

xoxoxo Debi