The Laura Bennett Dress is Cut Out...

... and underlined! Whew! That was an unmitigated rhymes-with-witch. Planning this dress is taking much longer than the actual sewing will. I pulled a FrankenPattern, melding a couple of patterns (McCall's 5269 and the Vogue/Mouret) to get the look I want. Then I cut out the underlining, an off-white stretch silk charmeuse from my dear Kashi. The overlay is the embroidered, feathered mesh that I bought from him when Carolyn, Stacey, Barbara and I met in New York in October. I still need to cut the lining, but that will be pretty straightforward. And just wait til you see what I do at the neckline! I'm not sure if you can see them very well, but the sleeves are cut from the net fabric, left unlined, and they don't have the feathering (I can't imagine trying to keep that out of my soup!):


I was originally hoping to have this dress finished for Christmas. Then singing and a bunch of panicked orders from clients (rush orders carry a surcharge, don't you know...) got in the way. And I would love to have it done for my birthday dinner, but I'm not sure it will be ready by then. So if not, it will be ready for New Years. And what a way to ring in 2007!

Oh, and in the spirit of the holidays, or whatever, I'm going to put in yet another shameless plug for Kashi. Do give him a call if you need any faboolious fabric. He's getting ready to move his digs, so you may even score a better bargain than usual. He ships internationally, too. His contact information is:

Metro Textiles
237 West 35th Street, Suite 504
New York, NY 10001
Phone: 212-290-0418
Fax: 212-268-0051

And in the interest of full disclosure, I get no kickback or incentive, he's just a friend. But he did send me and my family a big tin of fantastic cookies for the holidays!

Happy sewing!