Simplicity 2497

I can't believe it is so hard to find a dress that covers my shoulders in Atlanta this holiday season.   I'm trying to find a festive, but professional dress to wear to my company Christmas party in Phoenix in early December.  I looked everywhere to no avail.  So I decided to give this Simplicity pattern a try.  I could simply extend the shoulder line and it should fit the bill.  My local JoAnns had it made up in the store and it looked nice.  

I only had 2 weeks to make the dress and since I sew in my spare time, that is really not a lot of time for me.  But I decided that there's no use in learning to sew if I'm not going to trust myself to deliver.  So I went down to Gail's Fabrics and bought a beautiful green silk to make the dress with.  I even went for about 20 Swarovski crystals to liven up the waistband. 

I made a couple of adjustments to the patterns to make it work for me.  First, I raised the neckline about an inch and a half
 and drafted the shoulder to extend out probably about 2 inches (simply extend the shoulder seam and blend the armscye from about the bustline.  I usually do a bust cup adjustment, but the gathered waist in this dress makes it still fit ok without it.  I sewed the gatherings and the ruffle by hand and I would do it again -- I think it looks a little better that way.  I also made a facing for the front and back so I didn't have to bind the armholes.  

As for putting on the crystals -- I realized after I bought mine that the hot fix ones are better.  A lady at Gail's explained to me that you can just put them on a griddle until they bubble and mount them easily with tweezers.  Without the hot fix crystals, you have to squeeze craft glue onto the back of each crystal and it was kind of nerve racking.  As for the way I laid them out, I think the boundary of the design has to be symmetrical, but the placement inside that design can be fairly random.  That's what I did anyway.