But I was weak and gave in today, and much to my delight, I found a great pattern that I only feel slightly giulty for buying.
I give you McCall's 6523.
The rosette is gastly, I know, but the ample hip pleating is just fantastic, and this dress is nearly a double of the only vintage Designer dress I have... and love.. and can't fit into anymore (or ever, for that matter).
I managed to squeeze into this dress for the gala night on our (belated) honeymoon cruise in January. And then we sat down to diner, the ship entered open water, and I was promptly overwhelmed with both seasickness and an inability to breath in my tight dress. I had to run back to the cabin to change and I sort of gave up on the dress afterwards. That and the advent of 10 lbs didn't help either.
My favorite feature of this dress was the way it made my hips seem wider and my waist seam tinier, in the most Monroe-esque way. The pleats have been lined with a very stiff horsehair interfacing, making them almost have a life of their own.
There isn't any more room for me to make this dress bigger... so perhaps I'll just have to sew another one?
