The Expo Dress

This dress was kind of a long time coming. Or maybe it just seems that way.

I don't usually discuss projects with people ahead of time, or ask for input. I'm pretty impulse-driven. But when I realized in mid-May that I had actually given myself enough time to make an outfit for the Northern Ink Xposure tattoo convention in mid-June, I asked around for some suggestions. I vaguely believed I wanted to make a dress. I don't know jack about dresses.

I stopped in at two of my usual places, Pattern Review and Craftster to get some input. It didn't take long for me to decide what it was going to be. As of this weekend, I finally finished it.

I didn't put all that much time into actually making the dress. The thing is, I TALKED about it so much that it seemed to follow me everywhere! The dress and the jacket are actually two different Simplicity patterns, which I believe compliment each other well. The fabrics are an Alexander Henry print called "Born to Ride" (yes, really) and a black Italian damask.

The damask is just beautiful, with a woven black-on-black design. Happily, I will be wearing this outfit in the daylight for at least some of the time at the convention, and that's really when the damask looks its best. Oh, and as I have to tell everyone who has seen these pictures so far (I told you I've been talking about it a lot!), the dress fits me better than it fits Heddy.