Classing Things Up a Bit

 I'm retired from my civil service job and really don't have many occasions to get dressed up.  Especially in the last year, I rarely made it out of a pair of joggers and an old sweater.  I love following what Brenda does at Matisse.  Her ladies are always very elegant so I decided to class things up a bit around here with a gorgeous piece of robin's egg blue silk dupioni that I found on sale at Mood Fabrics.  

The dress is a fitted strapless sheath.  The jacket is a from a human pattern that I found in my stash.  I enlarged the pattern pieces from the instructions sheet.  The back and shoulders fit great but when I made a muslin out of it I just couldn't make the front work without redoing the pattern by adding darts and some extra width to accommodate the doll's larger bust.  The collar piece was also way too short and had to be redrawn.  The bag I made previously from a little piece of iridescent lambskin.  

I kept the jewelry pretty classic, simple pearly drops earrings and two strands of tiny pearls that I strung with a little 5mm Crystaletts button in the center.  But I had to add a tiny bit of bling to the bracelet with a little two-hole spacer thingy I found at my local bead store.  The jewelry all closes with little hooks and rings that I made from 24 gauge wire.  

I adore the way Kate Middleton often wears her hats cocked to the side of her head.  Stay tuned as in my next post I'll share some pictures and tell you a bit about how I make my hats.  It's some of the same techniques left over from my old miniature making days.