Further Fanciness

Aside from sewing and hiking, my third passion is guitar, and since that's the passion that has been winning my free time the last couple weeks I have nothing new to show this weekend. I have been spending some time thinking about my next big project, though, which is going to up the level of fancy in my sewing by a few notches, believe it or not. You guys, I'm so out of my element. I'm a bumpkin teacher, not an urban socialite!

Anyway, I have to go to a ball in September - a real, honest-to-goodness ball. It's for work and I will be actually working at the event, but I still need a gown. I had been going back and forth about making or just trying to thrift one, but then I bought some fabric so I guess I'm making it. A gown is really just a dress with a long skirt, right? I can make a dress!

The perfect warm grayish lavender... a bit darker in real life

I found this poly dupioni in the clearance section of JoAnn. I know I should do better than a JoAnn poly dupioni, but gowns really eat up fabric, $3/yd is well within my budget, the color is absolutely perfect, and, most importantly, it's not a shiny satin. This remnant of gray lace coordinates perfectly, but I won't be heartbroken if it doesn't make it in the final design.

Now I just need to decide on a pattern. Because I'm going to be working, I need a comfortable dress that I can move in. Pockets are a huge plus, as are sleeves, and the ability to wear normal undergarments is a must. Two weeks ago I was really sure that this was the one, but now I'm waffling. I'm afraid that the skirt might look frumpy unless I fit it perfectly. It will look especially bad if the seams aren't pressed totally flat, and I don't know if this fabric is capable of that.

Image from Simplicity

This dress turned out to be such a great design for working events that I kind of want to just make it again. I could incorporate the lace on the cummerbund included in the pattern. I am a bit concerned about being totally boring, though, both because the design isn't all that interesting and my fabric is plain, and because I just made it and it has some distinctive features.

Image from Simplicity

There are a few more patterns floating around my head and my super-helpful Pinterest board (what did we do before Pinterest??), but none of them are quite as good as these two. I have a couple months to make it but I'm sure they will just fly by, and as much as I would love to gather inspiration and dream up the perfect design I really want to keep it simple this year.

Have you ever made a gown? What did you wear it to, and how did it all turn out? If you needed a gown in the near future, what sort of dress would you want to make?