Christmas party frock

I'm glad I provided you all with a laugh at Anna's escapade - think of it as my Christmas present to you. She has been better behaved these last few days, but it is still exhausting keeping up with her as she leaves a trail of destruction around the house. Thank you especially to those who left tips on how to get the sudocream out of the carpet, I am going to try it as soon as I can muster the energy. And as for the dog, well he can sleep on the floor while he learns his lesson!

And as promised, here's a pic of my new frock made just in time for the festive season. My social calender is looking a bit light this year, with just a few casual get togethers scheduled which is actually kind of nice and much more relaxed. And because it's so hot, all I need is a simple but colourful dress, just like this:

It's made from Simplicity 4930, which is undated but I'd guess that it's late 1950s/early 1960s. It's very similar to the dress I made for Christmas last year which is the white, black and red print dress up in there in my blog header, but this one doesn't have the contrast 'bib' and it has a lower cut back.

I made it from some medium weight cotton which has mint coloured stripes on it which are graduated in colour so the stripes on the bodice are darker than that of the skirt. I bought this from an op shop some time ago I think. The fabric is a bit vintage itself, according to the selvedge it's a 1983 Robert Burton (an Australian designer): look at that font, it reminds of the school projects I used to so proudly print out on my commodore 64 when I was in primary school!

Not much to report on the construction of this pattern, it is so simple and a pretty typical fitted bodice with full skirt type pattern. I did switch the side zip to a centre back invisible zip just because I don't like the zipper tape and pull digging into the flesh under my arms. I also didn't sew the skirt to the full width required by the pattern because I didn't have enough fabric, if I had the skirt would have been enormously voluminous. I also fully lined the bodice because that seemed easier than fiddling about with separate neckline and armhole facings.

And you can see from the photo above that I matched the stripes at the back perfectly, and the sides are pretty spot on too. It must be all that practice I've had lately with stripe matching....

Just for k, here's the wretched Santa photo:

I'm pretty sure my face wasn't that shiny, they just had a super dooper flash happening. And I wished for what I always wish for - a full nights sleep with no screaming or tears, but I'm not sure if Santa can deliver on that!