Slow sewing

Do you remember those tacky souvenir tourist tshirts from years ago that had plastered across the front "My {insert random relative} went to {insert over hyped tourist destination} and all I got was this lousy t-shirt"?

Image from here.

Well my favourite saying this week is "I spent all week sewing and all I made was one lousy belt":

Although that's not completely accurate. Firstly, the belt is not that lousy, it's just lousy in terms of volume of output compared to time spent in front of my sewing machine. Secondly, I did actually do a heap of sewing: I made two fitting muslins, a whole heap of pattern adjustments and am in the process of making a test garment for the next dress pattern I plan on making. After the last two less than ideal fitting dresses, I decided that I should take a little more care in the fitting so that I won't be disappointed in the outcome. Plus the fabric I want to use is gorgeous and at $28/m I don't want to stuff it.

But fitting muslins and patterns that have been folded, taped, cut and retraced aren't exactly exciting blog fodder are they? So back to that little belt, which since it's just a plain band of satin with a few clear sewn on snaps isn't all that exciting either. But I made it to wear with this dress to a wedding I went to last night:

I made this dress back in 2007 to wear to a dinner with my husband's work and I don't think I've worn it since, which is a shame because I really like it. The only reason for not wearing it since is that I've made a new dress for every special occasion I've been to since! But I didn't quite have time this week to make something completely new, so instead I made the purple belt to match my new purple satin shoes.

This dress is a simple design, made from Butterick 3076, that I've actually made into four different dresses, posted about previously here. This version is a black cotton lace underlined with a cream charmeuse, which means is quite heavy but gives just the right amount of volume to the skirt:

I accessorised with a brooch in the centre of the belt because the fabric of the dress was too busy to wear one around the neckline. The front of the dress is quite modest with a high bateau neckline, but the back is quite low cut and all va va voom:

After having such hot weather around here lately, the weather has actually turned rather cold so luckily I had also made a jacket to go with the dress back in 2007 which I didn't need at the time, and I don't think I've ever worn it at all since. So it was definitely time to wear it out:

It's just a simple, rather unfitted jacket made from New Look 6619 but it's made from a textured polyester fabric to make sure it's not too plain. I made version E, the pink version on the pattern envelope:

And now I'm off to sew an invisible zip into my test garment. Fingers crossed the muslins have paid off and the test dress is a success (otherwise I'll be very cross with myself!)