Attire for Uncertain Times

I am totally feeling this dress. The excessive length. The cloudy non-color. The loose fit. The square neckline. The humble weave of the fabric. It makes me feel secure.

Above is a photo with the belt I’m planning to wear it with. I bought the belt a while ago, when I lived in the US, and now it’s much too big for me. It took me an inordinately long time to realize that I can just take some of the links out and it will be smaller! Hopefully, when I move back to America and drift back to my American weight, I’ll be able to find the links so I can still wear this belt.

Yes, I am moving back to America in next month. I’m a little sad about leaving London, and am experiencing all the normal feelings of upset that accompany any move. We still have our house in New Jersey, so at least I know where we’ll be moving to.

Anyway, back to the dress. The dress fabric is silk, woven in almost a burlap weave. I think I bought it at Paron Annex last summer. I added some embroidery at the neckline and near the hem, using a set of embroidery silk that I bought at a sewing expo last fall.

front unbelted

back

I lined it with some silk taffeta left over from another project. Silk is so useful.

I hand-embroidered chevrons on the bodice and skirt.

This is the pattern I used, from a Japanese book, ISBN4-309-28062-5.

This is the embroidery thread I used. It came beautifully packaged, and like most things that are beautifully presented, it cost a small fortune. It’s nice to have someone else match my colors for me, though.