Let's call this look,"Devil in a Blue Lace Dress".

When the Mood Sewing Network decided that it was time for a group project, that was not what I wanted to hear.  I don't even do sew-a-longs because I truly prefer to roll solo when it comes to sewing.  It's not that I don't play well with others, it's that my sewing is personal.  It's dictated by my mood and what's inspiring me at the moment... not a consensus plan.  And to be quite honest, lace was not on my radar.  Sure, it's pretty and one of the hottest trends of the season.  And even though I probably would've gotten around to doing a lace project eventually, I was just not in the mood now.  I'm obviously not oppose to lace, I've made a great lace dress before.  But, being part of a group means that sometimes you have to go along to get along.

I can't even begin to tell you how difficult it was to decide on a project.  I even began to curate a Pinterest board dedicated to lace, for inspiration.  Then there was selecting the fabric.  Have you any idea as to how many variations there are of lace?  The only thing I was definitive of is that I wanted it in a bold color.  And thanks to Carolyn, I found the perfect one in the brick and mortar NYC store.

The lace is beautiful, but has a lot of stretch.  I knew that would be a nightmare to work with.  So my way of working with it was to spray it down with fabric stabilizer, allowing it to dry and smoothing out it's crinkly texture with my iron.  After that, this beautiful lace was a dream to handle. I underlined with a matching blue fabric... a stretch satin.  I opted not to line the dress.  I actually like the way the dress wears... it has the look of a dressy/cocktail frock, but the comfort of a knit.

At first, I had my heart set on a lace trench coat, a la Burberry Prorsum.  Ambitious, I know.  But the varying factors (i.e. the weather here does not permit spring coats; and who really wants to underline all of those pieces?) swayed me.  So I went with something more wearable: a lace dress.  

Lace dresses can be really conservative or coquettish... really twee.  Or they can look really skanky and trashy.  And neither look define me.  So I picked a style that suited my personality... a peplum sheath.  I used Simplicity 1650.

I altered the pattern by adding 1/2 an inch to the waist and 3 inches to the skirt.  To me, it ran short.

Now that I'm no longer feeling all devilish about this project, all in all, this was a great project that allowed me to challenge myself.  And what I learned?  That sometimes when you go ahead with an "out of the box" project, you just may learn some things and enjoy it.