Nicola

Yesterday, after almost two weeks of work, I finished a dress I'd wanted to make for two years:  Victory Patterns' Nicola.

I had to do a fair bit of adjusting to get this one to fit me well, and then work slowly on my construction with this beautiful silk georgette.  I have lots to say about this make, but I promised my Instagram friends that I'd show the good stuff first, and save the details for later :-)

So here is my new dress.  My new favorite dress.  I have to say, I'm not 100% happy with these photos because I don't think any of them really do the dress justice.   It is so beautiful, and I can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can wear this someplace.  I've made Hubby promise to take me on a date just so I can show off my new dress.

I realize that it's really hard to see the design details in this busy print.  In the first few photos, I'm wearing the dress with a vintage full slip, which you can see peeking out at the neckline and front center hem.  I'm going to talk more about this slip in another post, because it's special to me, and I always had a vision of pairing it with this dress so the bits of lace could peek out.

The hemline dips down a bit in the back, which I love:

I got a flattering and comfortable fit across the back - hallelujah!

The sleeves are quite long under the arm, coming down below the waist.  When my arms are down, it hides how slimming the lines of the dress are.  Here you can see the shape of the body a bit better.

I lined the skirt in black silk, and when I walk or there's a breeze, it flutters a bit and shows.  So lovely!

I also took a couple of pictures with a half slip, so you can see the neckline uninterrupted.  For these I added a belt and hot pink pumps, which sadly don't match each other or the pink in the dress.

I think this dress looks great belted or unbelted, but the belt does help define the waistline with this busy print.  I'm going to try to find a belt that works better, color-wise.

You can see the sleeve a little better here:

And even better here, although my eyes are closed and I look like a goof!

I'm so glad I finally made this dress up.  And I'm also glad I waited as long as I did.  I'm not sure I could have produced a dress of this quality a year ago.  Having learned some fitting tricks and some tips for sewing with silk (thanks to a Craftsy class) made all the difference, I think. 

I'm not really sure how many dresses like this I need, but I do think I'd like to sew at least one more in a plainer fabric, so that the details show.