The Twelfth Annual Christmas Dress

I was able to finish the dress this weekend, which was my main goal.  The dress was easy to construct, and went together quickly.  Because of the knit, I did not use a back zipper and used the coverstitch to finish the hems:

I added a lining to the dress by making a second body of tricot and then treating the dress and lining as one when attaching the sleeves and finishing the neckline.  This leaves the sleeves unlined, which is just fine. The lining is not pink as the picture suggests, but actually a beige.

Due to the knit, the gathers at the neckline didn't stay as I wanted with the normal procedure of making gathers, and then attaching the facing to stitch the gathers permanently in place.  I found it better to make the gathers, stitch them to a stay of a strip of silk organza selvedge and then attach the facing.  Of course, I didn't think to take pictures until the facing was all stitched down!

The facing is tacked down at the seamlines by stitching in the ditch from the outside.   This is not visible from the outside and keeps everything in place.  I did find that I had to hand stitch the center front of the facing in place, but that was quick and easy to do.

She's tried it on and is happy with it all, including the very wide gold sash.  I'm not so sure about the sash, but it is her outfit.  I think a wide, interesting brown leather belt might have been better, but that's only one way to style it!

Tomorrow:  the vintage shirt of the month, and the fun of a missing pattern.

Parting Shot:  Santa's Helper?  Not so sure about that.  He did have to investigate when we brought out the decorations this year.  So far, he's not been terribly interested in chewing anything up.  So far.