Finalamente!

It is finished.
And with only 10 days to the deadline,
I have to say that I am slightly relieved.
There was kind of a stall there in the whole creative process for a bit. Hmmmm
Let's see. . . where did I leave off?
Oh , I think I had finished the rosettes.
And, connected the skirt to the lined top.
This allows the dress to be an easy-to-wear pullover style.
I think in a previous post, I showed the change in the neckline.
I was just unhappy with the squared off front neckline!
So, it is now a more attractive V-neck!

The tough part was after I got the dress on the dress form, pinning & re-pinning the gold lace and the rosettes.
I just could not be happy with it for ever so long!

I finally was satisfied with how they were scattered
over just one shoulder, across the bodice top and
spilling onto the skirt.

Then, I also added the gold strands of beads.
I had cut them into various length strands.
And, placed 3 each at the back of the shoulder
and then on the opposite side of the skirt.

I used gold thread to sew the lace on
and then with tan thread completed sewing
the rosettes on.

Finally, to complete each flower,
I glued a single bead into its center.

Well, there you have it.
My final result is a golden collage of texture and color!

But then came the moment of truth...
I tried the dress on.
And that is where it all has fallen apart for me.

I am not a model. Nope. Never have been.

(Once, a hundred years ago or so, I was doing some sewing for a dress shop in Cottonwood, AZ and the lady was going to have a fashion show. She asked me to be a model. Needless to say, that was a catastrophe. Apparently, models are supposed to have a special walk, pose, stance, posture... Not me! I bolted down the aisle and across that stage and was outta sight before those poor, little unsuspecting ladies eating their chicken cacciatore knew what happened!)

First and last time for that!

So all I can say, is no matter how I try to angle my chin and suck in my waist, "it is what it is."
A 46 year old woman in a dress. Nothing special.

What to do... What to do...

I know that if they accept my submission, I will be asked to actually send the completed dress to the magazine for them to take professional photographs of it. So this is reassuring! I just have to submit photos that make the review committee want to see the dress! I guess I just have to do it. Huh?

Overall, this has been a fun adventure.
I hope that you enjoyed following along as I pursued this little dream of mine!

I have the write up finished which describes procedure & techniques that I used for my project. I am actually all ready to submit this project. So, I am going to go for it!

"You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities
no doubt crept in;
forget them as soon as you can."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson