Sunday, October 28, 2012

"Dial M For Murder" Red Lace Dress

The beautiful red lace dress in the 1954 film "Dial M For Murder" starring Grace Kelly was also in my huge batch of red outfits. 

 
I am really happy about how the dresses turned out.
 
 
I couldn't decide of Grace's dress was one piece or a dress and a jacket
 
 
I decided to make the dress strapless with a short bolero jacket.  I should add a photo of the dress without the jacket so you can see how nice it looks also as a strapless dress.
 

I found this lace at JoAnn Fabrics.  I used JoAnn's red Cassa satin for the lining.

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I sewed the clipped edging of a lace trim on the bodice, jacket, sleeves and hem.
 
 

 

 

 
I had two differnet red laces in my fabric stash, so I cut out as many dresses as I could out of both pieces.

 Lace 1 from JoAnn's
 

and lace 2.  I liked lace 1 better at first, but I am finding that lace 2 is growing on me.  I am not sure which version I should keep for myself now.
 


If you are interested in puchasing this pattern click here.
 

Saturday, October 20, 2012

I'm Never Going to do This Again

 
 
Earlier this year I decided it was time to made some red outfits.  When I first started sewing for Gene I only made two outfits, one to sell and one for me.  After a year or so of doing that, I started making OOAK's.  In 2008 I decided to make the most of my designs and started making small batches of each design.  I didn't make sense to me to work so hard on making a new design to only make it once.  I limited the size of my batches to about 8 outfits usually, unless I could squeeze out one more from my fabric.  I think there are many advantages to my system:  I use up the fabric, it is efficient, and I don't usually have a problem selling my outfits.  The biggest drawback is I haven't worked with any real colors for a long time now.
 
My red list started growing:  The red lace dress from Grace Kelly's "Dial M for Murder", the red suit the the Countess wears in "Sound of Music", Travilla's red wool suit with the black fur sleeves (part 2), a red version of "Rear Window's" black cocktailer, etc.... I started designing the different outfits and cutting out all the batches back in February.  I figured it would take me only a month or two to finish everything.  If course my eyes are bigger than my time.  It probably wouldn't have been so bad but after I cut out all the lace dresses there were a lot of scraps left over.  I got the "brilliant" idea to make lace and chiffon cocktailers like I had last year.  Thirty-five lace bodices later, I really started wondering about my sanity.
 
Now I haven't been sewing these red outfits the whole time, I did get distracted doing quite a few commissions this Spring and Cub Scouts really sucked a lot of my time away from sewing this past  Summer.
 
I think the grand total is 107 outfits.  It wasn't so bad while I was working on the machine work.  I just kept plugging away at it until all I had left to do was the hand-work.  The hand-work is taking forever, and I am getting sick of it.  I decided a few weeks ago to focus, focus like a laser beam, or at least try to.  I am now finishing one style at a time, making the pattern to sell, and selling the outfits.
 
I hope everyone likes red.  I have at least 6 more styles to finish and sell of various batch sizes.  After all the red is done, I will then only make one style and the pattern at a time.  My goal is to have a new batch of outfits and its pattern to sell every 2-3 weeks and not go months between posts and sales.
 
Focus Diane, Focus.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Grace Kelly's Beautiful Red Dress

When I first saw these photos of Grace Kelly in this dress I knew I HAD to make it.
 

I am not sure when this photo shoot happened.  If anyone knows, please let me know.

 
This is my version.
 
 
I ended up making a strapless dress with a sweetheart neckline,  jacket, and belt.
 
 


I just love using backdrops.
 

 


The dress is made of silk dupioni and lined in white.

 

 

 
I am so excited to finally have a Grace Kelly doll!  I met a lovely lady at my last convention, and we worked out a trade.

 

 

 
She can't stand on her own, so that is why the chair is there.



 
 These dresses are sold out.

If you are interested in the pattern click here.