Spambie. I mean . . . Cambie!

I finished my dress this weekend!  And I took a picture or two this morning . . .

Here's the "real" picture.  This one was the best of the bunch.  Also, please note that I made an effort with my appearance!  Hair and makeup!

OK, let's get down to brass tacks.  I love this dress.  The more I look at it, the more I like it!  And it feels so good on - very comfortable. 

You may remember that I cut a straight size 6, since Sewaholic's size 6 measurements are mine exactly.  In the end, I'd say that for a closer fit, I could probably go down to a size 4 on top, and possibly even on the bottom if I used a heavier fabric (this one is made of cotton lawn with a synthetic pongee lining).  However, this little bit of roominess makes the dress very comfortable to wear and easy to move in.  So I'm on the fence. 

Although this fabric is very pretty, I truly did mean this to be a muslin, both to check for fit and to practice the techniques involved.  This is the very first time I've made a fully lined dress, and I think that's one of the reasons I was putting it off.  But it really wasn't hard, and the pattern instructions were clear enough that I was able to figure it out.  But just to make sure, I checked on Tasia's blog - there's lots of great extra information that helped me confirm that I was on the right track.

My intention is to make this dress again using the gorgeous Liberty fabric Andrea gave me when she visited.  That fabric is precious, so I want to make sure I have the right fit before I cut into it.  My current plan is to wear this muslin a few times and see how I feel in it.

But you want more pictures and less discourse, right?  Pleased to oblige!

The dress itself.  With closer views of the pockets and sleeve/strap area:

I'm very proud of my invisible zipper.  It took a lot of re-sewing and cutting, but I finally got the two sides to match up perfectly!

Some fit photos.  I included the back view even though it is fuzzy.  I don't know why, but sometimes my camera just decides not to focus even though the settings are the same as all the other photos.  But at least you can see the shape of the dress from the back.  Let's just pretend it's "soft focus" because I'm old.

And some "outfit photos."  I think this dress looks pretty cute with the Miette!

And the one you've all been waiting for:  the Silly Photo!  Here I'm channeling my inner school teacher, and shushing you:

I'm hoping that anyone who is interested can see some of the fit wrinkles by clicking on the pictures to enlarge.  I'd welcome any advice anyone cares to throw my way!  I find it interesting that there's a horizontal wrinkle at my right shoulder (visible in the back view photo), because that's my lower shoulder!  There are some horizontal wrinkles at the sides of my ribcage as well.  That said, I realize this fabric makes those all a little difficult to see!  But much the better for me to get some wear out of this dress!