I actually had a hard time deciding what to wear. I have a RTW red dress that I've worn once and would like to wear again, and my first version of Lekala 5432 in black swiss dot with salmon-ish satin underlay. I was doing a reading at the wedding, I knew the bridesmaids were wearing chocolate brown and flowers would be in fall colours including red. I don't like wearing straight black to weddings, but I thought with the pink satin, it would work out okay. I put the option to Mr Lina, he picked Lekala.
I am reliant on friends for pictures for the most part, Mr Lina took the picture on the right, but that's the only picture of the dress we have. We were both busy chasing after our friends toddler (and taking pictures of her and the bride) and neither of us thought about taking pictures of each other. I've tried to crop out my friends from this group picture for their privacy. At least I have two angles from pretty much the same moment.
So, unsolicitations. I got compliments from several of my friends and while they know I like to sew, this is the first real dress up wear I've made so they wouldn't expect me to have made it. I actually wore this for New Years, but only the bride and groom were at that event, it was a new dress to everyone else. One of my friends thought it looked worth about $500. I love her, I think she's spent too much time at Coach outlets to believe her on that estimation. Far better than the ignorant coworker comments that Sewing By The Seat of My Pants got from her little children's outfit (not to mention all the stories in the comments). Perhaps part of the difference is we are just accustomed to paying more for formal attire than children's clothing. Who would blink at a party dress price tag around $100? $150? $200? I wouldn't depending on the dress (although as the price goes up, the likelihood of me actually buying it goes down). Another friend complimented the colour, that it fit in well with the bridesmaids and looked perfect while doing the reading. She asking if I had the wedding party colours in mind when I bought the dress. It was a nice specific compliment that resonated true.
Looking at the pictures has me realizing I really should wear better undergarments. I can tell where my nylons end at my waist, a little smoothing would be good with such a shiny fabric. The two bottles of wine consumed at OCFF the night before and dinner at the wedding were likely not helping with the tummy control situation either. That's okay, I danced and danced for the rest of the night, I got my exercise in.
That's a beautiful dress! I don't see the under layer as pink though, the effect is more burgundy or merlot on my monitor. Probably my monitor's wacky color filter. I agree, it looks expensive although $500? My definition of expensive is over $100 for a fancy dress!
ReplyDeleteI think my sewing is sometimes affected by my feeling that I'm not "worth it." As in, not worth the pricey fabric or the slippery, difficult satin. I've never made a party dress -- I do need one, I have two that don't fit well -- because of this. I consistently sew everyday clothes instead. That means I rarely get unsolicitations because I'm not dressed up enough for people to notice. I'm getting better about this as my skill level improves, but it's still an uphill battle.
Thank you! I think my perception is influenced by knowing the rosey shade of pink of the satin alone. It's hard to put a real finger on the colour in real life because of the way the light hits it. I like Merlot.
ReplyDeleteI think you use some super cool fabric on otherwise casual things, like your vippy shirt. You are totally worth it and up to the challenge. Fabric doesn't have to be crazy expensive to be fancy, the dress doesn't have to be complicated to be nice. That dress has 6 pieces and 4 darts and not even sleeves to ease in. Still, at the end of the day, we do what draws us and at least you end up with a wardrobe of clothing you wear rather than muliple dresses that don't get seen.
That dress looks great on you! It's showing up on my screen as a darker plum color too, but I love how rich it looks! I love making evening wear just for that reason: you can make unique, beautiful clothes that would cost a fortune in a store!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! Evening wear is one area that has the potential to really pay off to sew for yourself.
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