Vogue 7871 Dress

Last night our town held the MML's Christmas dinner for our county. While our local chapter of MML meets frequently (monthly? quarterly? I'm not even sure), I rarely attend. I went one time last year, which I think was also the Christmas dinner. I don't go often, mostly, because of the cost for the town. It usually costs around $30 per person for food. Our little town of 900 people is struggling just like major cities. But, since we were hosting it, we all agreed to attend.

I had planned to make a dress this past summer and never did. How typical of me. So when I heard about this dinner, I knew it was time. I used the fabric I had originally picked out this summer, which is a thrifted sheet. Or something. I thought it was a sheet, then I realized it was homemade. So maybe it was a shower curtain. I'm not sure. It's hard to tell but it's off-white with a reddish-pink floral design. I thought it could also double as a Christmas outfit with red and white. Or reddish-pink and off-white. Whatev.

It's been freezing here, so I had to wear it with a cardigan. I also wore my black ribbon belt. Oh, and that cool, vintage rhinestone reindeer pin I have. Except the reindeer is now missing his red eye.

Without the cardi, it's kind of plain. But I still like it. The pattern calls for a belt, but I knew I wasn't going to wear it to the dinner, so I didn't bother making one yet.

And I thought, if I never get around to making the matching (bleh!) belt, I could always improvise.

I used Vogue 7871, which sadly is out of print now. I made the length a tad longer than the shorter version. And I had to slightly modify the sleeves because it looked like the sleeves and I were about to take flight. I had thought about making a felt-poinsettia belt to go with the dress, but I ran out of time. After all, I cut out the dress on Monday night; started sewing the dress Tuesday night; and hemmed it and fixed the wings sleeves Thursday afternoon, just hours before the dinner. I also used a 22" invisible zipper instead of the regular one. (Thank goodness I made a mock-up dress 2 weeks ago. The invisible zipper looks much nicer.)