Tessuti Awards: Spots and Stripes

My spots-and-stripes dress has now been entered into the Tessuti Awards. I’m not going to be shy and admit that I’d like your vote for a Visitor’s Choice prize. It’s easy. All you have to do is just click on this sentence and then click on the 5th heart.  No signing up or promising of first born children or anything.

This dress’s story begins way back when this year’s Tessuti Awards theme was announced. I browsed through the Tessuti fabrics eligible for the contest since I wanted to see what the possibilities were.

When I saw the Spot on Navy silk twill, I was inspired to look for a complementary stripe. When I saw the Navy Line, also a silk twill, I knew I had my fabrics… if I were going to enter, but of course I wasn’t.

I made a sketch of the dress I’d want to make anyway. I showed it to my husband, who promptly encouraged me to go for it. Because of him I had my first inkling of maybe-I-will-enter.

Then Tessuti Fabrics had a sale. And, I decided to go for it.

The pattern choice was easy since Vogue V8280 pretty much fit my design perfectly.  I mixed view A with view D and added a horizontal seam across the back.

I underlined the silk twill with silk organza and lined with silk crepe de chine. I used an invisible zipper and finished the dress off with red hem lace for a bit of fun.  During construction everything was going swimmingly until I tried to take a short cut. I won’t go into it now since I want to focus on the finished dress, but let’s just say there were tears.

My husband and I went out for photos today, but we didn’t make it to any of the fun places you guys suggested. We talked as if we were going to go to the Palace of Fine Arts, but then I chickened out since I figured it would be too crowded for me to be comfortable. We brainstormed how to pull off photos at the old movie theater down the street from us, but we figured the best photos there would need fancy lighting. So, we just went for a walk instead at dusk with the hope that we’d be inspired.

When I saw this wall, I got excited that we’d at least be able to try out the “orange wall” suggestion of yours. It was lit from underneath, which made for a fun legs-on-fire effect. I quite like it.

To those of you who do take the time to vote: thank you from the bottom of my heart. And, even if I don’t even come close to winning, I always have such fun participating in these kinds of things.