My Red Halter Dress: "The Making of" by Penelope Red

Sometimes it is important to sew something beautiful, just for the sake of it! Any excuse is a good excuse, especially when the weather is as bad as it was last weekend! It means I have no issues about feeling guilty for staying in doors all day.

I will be attending a friend's bush wedding in a few weeks, and weather permitting, I wanted to wear a dress. In October, the weather can be anything from 35.C. (like it was two years ago) to 15.C. like it was this week. I am hoping for warm weather!

I recently bought some really pretty and brightly coloured sandals, intending to wear them at the wedding, so I was inspired to make a bright dress!

I decided to make a halter dress. I have also been constantly making straight skirts, and I thought a full skirt would be a nice change. Also, since the fabric was linen, if I had made the style to tight across the hips, it would crease dramatically.




I placed interfacing throughout the bust and waist areas. The bust has darts and pleats to create the fullness.



The back waist area.


Over-locking the side seam.


Placing the invisible zip in.



I always like to make sure my seams match!



Finishing off the bust area.



The outside of the dress completed.


The inside should always be as neat as the outside!

The next decision was placing the gorgeous embroidery around the top of the waist band. This embroidery is recycled originally from doily's! It is actually an appliquéd design, which I just cut around, and neatly hand appliquéd the design to my dress.





The finished product:




I intend to get some better photos at the wedding, or the next time I wear it. I will post them, hopefully, soon.

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