Wednesday, June 15, 2011

A Recipe For Disaster!

I was going to make the title of this post - "The Costume Designer From Ben Hur Called, and She Wants Her Dress Back" but that was a bit wordy.  Accurate, but wordy. Instead, my husband was trying to help me think of a funny title for a post about when my projects go awry.  We tossed around a few ideas before my two-year-old said "A Recipe For Disaster."  We all laughed and knew that her little homage to The Backyardigans was the perfect way to describe my creative failures for you.  And so ~A Recipe For Disaster~ is born.

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you all to the "Ben Hur" dress:  Voila!

The frightful front!

The startlingly bad back!

I sewed this dress back in October with the intent to wear it to my cousin's wedding.  Several things worked in concert to make this dress a total FAIL! 

First, I was in a hurry - the death knell of many a seamstress. 

Due to the above mentioned hurry and the fact that I don't have a dress form, I didn't try on the dress as I pieced it together.

When I first pulled it over my head and looked in the mirror, I was stunned!  The dress that was so cute on the front of the pattern, looked absolutely hideous on me (refer to the above photos for proof)!

I found something else to wear to the wedding, and this dress has been hiding behind my nearly always open closet door ever since.  It made an appearance every now and then these past eight months.  My husband suggested that I send it to charity a few months ago, but I insisted that I was going to fix it.

There are some things that I really love about this dress.  The ribbon details on the dress that I decided to add is perfectly parallel.  I want to celebrate that.  I am so pleased with it, but that is what really makes it look like it is from "Ben Hur.".  I also like the shape of the sleeves except that the elastic is way too loose.  That is an easy fix.

I don't want to simply sew some darts into the dress to make it more fitted.   That will not fix some of the underlying problems in the the fit of the dress.  The top around the shoulders is ill-fitting, and the v-neck does not look good on me.

Emboldened by my refashion success found here, I am going to turn this dress into a sassy skirt!  This refashion will be a bit trickier, but I have a plan!  Check back soon to see the finished project!

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4 comments:

Just Jaime said...

I'm sorry the dress didn't turn out. I think the bag on the head pictures are quite funny though. Good luck making it a skirt. In the words of Tim Gun, "Make it work!"

DearHelenHartman said...

The bag on the head just MAKES the outfit! Why do more? Just walk around like that! Actually, I just did something on awful macrame - maybe some of that would be just the thing to totally ruin the look. Fun post.

The Pennington Point said...

Oh I can totally relate! I do this all of the time...buy an adorable pattern, sew it up and it looks terrible on me. After too many failures I still come home from the store beaming with excitement, arms full of fabric, zippers and interfacing. My husband just looks at me and says, "Why do you do this to yourself?" LOL! It never looks good. Never. But I keep trying. What's the point of life without some adventure. :) Lisa~

angie said...

i love the bag on the head :) this was a fun post....a good reminder that everyone has their craft fails!!

i was just stopping by to say thanks for leaving a comment on my chalkboard wall ~ i really appreciate it ~ and the chalk is just like antacid part made me giggle :)