I finally started sewing the Floral Dress (I might be calling this "The Paris Dress" as well) ! I want to be done in a week, so I can take it to Paris with me :) I really need a dress like this: sleeveless, bright, summery, scoop neckline, 50ies. I don't have any 50ies summer dresses! Or well, not enough :) I started by taking the old skirt apart, finishing the seams with a zigzag and then blind hemming the skirt:

Then I worked on the bodice pattern for a while (made about 3 half muslins) using a bodice-sloper from a german sewing book ("Mein ganz persönliches Schnittmuster" by Lee Hollahan):

Is  it weird that I used the obituary pages of the newspaper for this? Didn't do it on purpose...

The fabrics and notions (you can see the blind hem on the skirt):

I bought a metal zipper, but when testing it I found that it doesn't zip very "smoothly". Is this a problem? I thought metal would be nice because alot of vintage dresses have metal zippers...

The (under)lining fabric is so soft, and so easy to iron! (except that it's really slippery...) So after cutting the pieces I basted the underlining to the bodice:

and sewed the darts...

This is how far I am now. My To-do list:

1. cut skirt lining (underskirt)
2. sew side seams of underskirt (french seam)
3. sew straps and side seams of bodice
4. check fit (waist)
5. finish seams with zigzag
6. fold and iron center back
7. cut and zigzag facings
8. iron fusible interfacing right along the seamline of the facing
9. sew on facings
10. understitchfacings
11. catchstichfacings by hand (sew center back folds in place!)
12. baste underskirt to skirt at waist-edge
13. cut both open along the back (for zipper)
14. gather skirt and underskirt (at the same time)
15. attach skirt and underskirt to bodice (make sure to sew center back folds in place)
16. finish that seam
17. add waiststay
18. prepare skirt for zipper: 1. Sew up the skirt till where zipper comes in; 2. Sew underskirt to skirt like here (use iron to press it flat).
19. Insert hand picked zipper

Sounds like a lot. When I write down all the steps seperately I can see where the time goes when I'm sewing... I feel like it takes soo long to get anywhere when sewing. But there are so many little steps. It's worth it though.

If I find a nice trim in Paris (couldn't find the perfect one here), either pink like the big flowers on the fabric or orange like the smaler ones, I'll sew it to the hem of the underskirt :) I really liked the look of the underskirt-trim peeking out with the heart cut-out dress I made so I want to try it again.

Back to sewing!