Simplicity 2178: Joost got married so I made a dress

Well, here I am and I've made something! Well, I've made this Simplicity 2178 dress 6 months ago, but I didn't manage to get good pictures in. So here we go: a finished dress and a full on blog post! About six months ago, Joost, the brains and hands behind MakeMyPattern got married. He invited me and some other sewcialist friends to the wedding ( Did I already told you that sewing friends make amazing real friends? Well, they do!) Months in advance, Anneke, Stephanie, Lieke and I were planning our outfits. And of course , in true procastinator fashion, we were all sewing till the last-minute, with Anneke even painting her dress at night. Cause that's how we roll when we aren't doing client work! My pattern of choice (after rejecting about 15 other options) was Simplicity 2178, a Cynthia Rowley design that has been in my stash for 4 years. I've been wanting to make this dress for a long time, but never found a good occasion to actually wear it. A half-Irish wedding is just the place to wear a long dress, so I finally found myself the perfect occasion! As it was literally the day before the wedding when I started this dress, I only made a muslin of the top half. Turns out, this pattern fits me right out of the envelope. I don't even know how that is possible, but you can imagine how happy I was to find out (I've been on a simplicity+cynthia rowley pattern shopping spree since) This means though, that if you are taller than 5'3" (1.6m) you might need to lengthen the skirt if you want a floor length dress! Now, onto the pictures. These were taken last week, so no glamorous wedding festivities make up. Well, can't have it all! The fabric is Christian Wijnants linen/cotton mix and it's absolutely amazing. Just the right amount of stiffness and drape for the bodice and I'm in love with the print. I lined the skirt with a cotton voile to make the skirt a bit more appropriate and to make the skirt wouldn't cling to my legs if I was to wear stockings. Turns out that we had a very early beautiful day, so I was able to pair my dress with sandals. In these pictures I'm wearing pumps, which looks a bit more classic. I loved the look with sandals though! This dress is one of my favorite makes of last year. I feel like a glamazone wearing it, and for someone who's 5'3" that's not a small thing to accomplish! I wore this dress to another wedding later in June and felt equally good wearing it! I'm so happy with how these dress turned out and so honored to have been part of Joost and Sorcha's wedding. It was an amazing party and I wish them all of luck and good things! Do you sew for special occasions? Are you a lost minute sewist or a prepared one? Let me know!