promdue!

Last night, my coworkers and I had our belated holiday celebration. None of us could remember exactly where the idea came from, but it was nothing short of awesome. We decided to relive prom and go to an Atlanta prom dinner standby, Dante’s Down The Hatch—a quirky fondue restaurant.

Prom + Fondue = Promdue!

We had a blast! The food was good, we got to spend some quality time with Dante himself, and the company was lively. After dinner, we did our best to recreate classic prom poses and annoy the other restaurant patrons. I think we were pretty successful on all fronts.

Thankfully, I was also successful at finishing my dress on time! It was like Project Runway, with the last seams sewn and threads snipped a mere hour and a half before our reservation time. And I still had to do my makeup and my hair, which I decided to glam up with a fake ponytail. I can’t decide if it’s fabulous or creepy, but it was fun!

I made the dress using Butterick B4919, a “Retro Butterick” pattern, and crepe back satin.

It wasn’t especially difficult to make, but cutting the fabric was a bit challenging because the skirt pieces are so large. I used an invisible zipper and made the sash ties longer than the pattern called for. I also improvised bust darts because it was a little baggy from my shoulders through my armpits. Hemming it took way longer than I liked, simply due to the volume of fabric. But I’m very happy with how it turned out, especially considering how last-minute finishing it was.

I guess I had a little too much fun in my red dress, because I woke up today with a cold.Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery!