Shoo Weee!  I completed my dress for the Mad Men Challenge! I worked into the wee hours of the night last night to finish it on time.  I ended up chosing a dress Megan wore last season as my inspiration.  First look at it and I was in love.  Green is my favorite color, I love 60's style dresses and the keyhole neckline opening, what more do you need?

I would die if I could get my hands on this exact fabric.  I'm absolutely positive it's probably polyester.  I did find a suitable alternative at Joann's, design wise.  It some kind of cotton with a slight stretch to it so it doesn't lay quite like Megan's does, but the fabric had a fun green and blue geometric print which is what I was looking for.  Oh and have you seen this exact dress being sold by Banana Republic??

$130!! I was hoping it would go on sale and it did for $99! Thanks but I think my version will do just fine.

I used vintage Simplicity 8722.  It's marked as a "jiffy" dress on the pattern and I assume this is because it can be made in a flash.  I think they marked my pattern wrong and meant to tag it as "eternity" because that's how long it took me. 

The invisible zip proved to be a challenge. I haven't inserted too many of these so every time it comes to put one in I get confused and have to revisit a you tube video.  This time I watched Sunni's free class on Craftsy, "Mastering Zipper Techniques".  It was a big help and it's amazing how Sunni's zippers look so damn perfect! I hope to be that one day!  Another time consumer for me on this dress was the keyhole neckline.  I was so scared about it right off the bat that once it came time to do the deed I found myself doing everything else but.  You know like cleaning out the refrigerator, shampooing carpets, going in for a root canal....  But seriously there was nothing to be scared about.  The instructions were pretty clear.  To help me stitch a perfect keyhole I traced the keyhole pattern on tracing paper, cut it out and laid it on my fabric and traced around the cutout.  Easy peasy...

Beside sewing the keyhole another first for me was the back contour darts and finishing the armholes with bias binding.  (I also referred to video tutorials).  I intended on sleeves but when I pinned them on and tried it on it was way too constricting.  I always have this problem with sleeves and I can't figure out what the problem is.  Am I too wide in the shoulders maybe? Do I need to adjust the  armscye (the world itself sounds intimidating)? I rather like the way it looks without sleeves anyways and I plan on pairing it with a white cropped cardigan (for the office cuz it's always cold).

She's taken aback and cannot believe what she's seeing.  She screams in terror and Vito rushes in...

"Hey what's all the noise about, you woke me up from my nap? And what for may I ask?" he barks.

 

"Why you no good sneaky *beeeeep*" she yells.  

Vito barks, "I don't understand, what's the big deal??  He's only eating a bowl of Ben & Jerry's Cannoli ice cream in bed!" 

"Only a bowl you say Vito??" Ms. Shannon yells, "It looks like he's devouring it right out of the carton and it's a limited batch.  He knows cannolis are my favorite. Why I never even got to taste it first before he ate it all! And they aren't going to make it ever again! I'll never get to try it! Oh the horror and agony!!"

"Calm down crazy lady! There's more in the freezer, follow me!" Vito leads the way.

With a look of disgust Ms. Shannon looks at her husband before walking out the door and says, "You better hope this Pug is right!"

 

 

Ms. Shannon walks back down to the kitchen where Vito has a spoon and a pint of Ben & Jerry's cannoli ice cream waiting for her on the table. She sits down at the table and for once all is right in the world...

~ THE END ~