FO: A Frock by..er...Monday?!

As I mentioned last week, I have been following along with the 'Frock by Friday' sew-along over on Grosgrain. Now...as the name kind of indicates, you should end up with a dress by Friday...and today is definitely NOT a Friday. I had a few difficulties along the way, a few (a lot of?) harsh words were given to the fabric, but eventually I got there!

The three main problems I had were:
1. My boyfriend really wasn't too keen on me spending every night working away on the dress when I could (should?) have been spending quality time with him! To be honest, that is just really sweet so I can't really be annoyed with him wanting to spend time with me.
2. We had a couple of gorgeous days over here in Northern Ireland, and when they come along you REALLY want to make the most of them as they are a rare thing!
3. This is the main problem I had - the fabric I chose (poly crepe de chine I think) really didn't want to play! A BIG part of making the dress, pretty much the only bit of work you have to do for it, involves ironing strips of the fabric - you iron this material and it laughs in your face and falls back to how it looked at the start! Then there was the pinning...I had to pin the elastic casing strip to just below the bust...this was near impossible! I tried putting it over the ironing board...nope. I tried putting it on myself and pinning....nope (and ow!). I tried lying it flat on the floor...nope. Anything else - nope nope nope! In the end I had to enlist my boyfriend to hold it in place while I pinned (and held back curse words!)!

But anyway, enough complaining and excuse making - here is the dress:

Sorry about the facial expression...think I was waiting for my boyfriend to figure out how to use a camera!! In general I'm happy about the dress, but I do fee it is not the most flattering on me, as is. So I tired it with a navy belt I have and I like it a lot like this:

and one more for good measure:

So there you have it, my Frock by Friday Monday! Kathleen on Grosgrain said that this was a very simple pattern and this project should really be called 'A Dress in a Day', and I think she is right - if you choose a well behaved fabric, like 100% cotton. I may try this again, in cotton, and in a smaller size so that it's not as baggy.

P.S. I actually DO own more than one pair of shoes, but for some reason everything I've made so far on this blog involves me wearing these red shoes!!!!

P.P.S. This is also another addition to my SSS wardrobe (phew, finally adding to it!). But its pretty short and lightweight so I'd need to rock it with boots and maybe a long sleeved top underneath too. My problem though is what coloured tights should/could I wear with it???!!! Navy? Red? White? I think red would be too extreme and white would make my legs look massive! Anyone have any suggestions? Would love to hear!