Dressing for the Holiday / Christmas party season

[Kitty_Sheridan]

La Medicine, they are gorgeous!!!

 

[C-dot]

Glad to hear it, Martini!

LaMedicine, those are beautiful pictures. I always found Japanese women to be the epitome of grace!

 

[goldwyn girl]

LaMedicine, oh my !!! I am drooling over those beautiful pieces.
I am hosting a formal buffet dinner and cocktail party and I think I will have to make a dress, I've seen some beauties but they are all priced over $500........... ouch so I'm tossing around the idea of something in red and white. Last year I made a skirt from a table cloth so it looked like a vintage border /novelty print skirt. I do always like to wear something red.

 

[Medvssa]

If there are no occasions, create them, right?
I'll post here since even though this is technically for Halloween, it is not fancy dress.
This was my last day at my previous job (I start a new job on Tuesday ) and a pseudo-Halloween party. Which means that some people printed skeletons and bats and taped them to the wall. That's it lol Well, they also asked me to bring my makeup case but only one person ended up with purple lips. And we brought some snacks.

So well, I decided to dress a little nicer than usual. I wore my red silk dupioni skirt that I made long ago and that I never dare wear because it is a bit too dressy. With a silk blouse from Zara that I think looks a bit Victorian, and a waistcoat. I had put my hair up with a makeup brush because it was bothering me, haha.

wrinkled stocking!

(Do you want to see my [ex]coworker after the makeup? I think she is gorgeous).

 

[C-dot]

Beautiful skirt and great makeup skills, Medvssa! :eusa_clap You should wear that skirt way more often. Clothes that are formal to most people are usually semi-formal to me.

EDIT: I couldn't find it, but I read somewhere that men in the 1920's and 30's found the slouch at the heel of fully-fashioned stockings to be very alluring.

 

[Medvssa]

Thanks, C-dot

I couldn't find it, but I read somewhere that men in the 1920's and 30's found the slouch at the heel of fully-fashioned stockings to be very alluring.

Oooo, well... modern men don't even notice (not that I care lol) and modern women think my stockings are a size or two too big (not that I care lol lol)- which they aren't, although perhaps I should shorten the straps of my suspenders a bit [huh] I already have them as short as they will go.

 

[crazydaisy]

Medvssa you look absolutely beautiful, the best outfit I've seen in quite a while! :eusa_clap

 

[Medvssa]

Thank you crazydaisy the skirt does need some fixing though, it is too tight but well... while I am sitting you cannot see it lol I don't have pictures standing, nobody took any, so there is no evidence

 

[CherryRed]

Thank you Inky! That would for sure be a more simple route! Here is the dress I always wish to make:

The short version. I envision it with a black velvet bodice and Christmas plaid taffeta skirt. *sigh*

I scored 5 yds of tartan plaid taffeta on sale for $3 a yard at Hobby Lobby!
Maybe I'll get my dream dress after all ...if I can find the time.

 

[Grant Fan]

I bought this last year to wear to a formal holiday occasion at my boyfriends base in Japan, I even got fabulous red satin peep toes shoes to go with it. A week before I left the moved the date of the event up a few days and it wound up being the on the day I was flying out there :eusa_doh: . So I didn't get to use it as intended. I have worn it once for a cocktail party but I plan to use it this year if i go anywhere fancy for Christmas.

 

[CherryRed]

Smokin' HOT!

That looks FAB on you GrantFan!!

 

[C-dot]

Wow, I hope an occasion does arise for the sake of the people who will see you - You look stunning!

 

[*martini*time*]

Woweeeee!!! You look beautiful!
I tried that dress on for my man's xmas party last year but emerald green satin just wasn't for me. But it certainly is your friend. :eusa_clap

 

[Grant Fan]

Ladies thank you. I love that dress it makes me feel like Rita Hayworth. And if I don't get to wear it for Christmas I might just have to insist me and my boyfriend do something dressy for New Years.

 

[deadpandiva]

I want too make this dress in kelly green. I am having trouble finding suitable fabric. I want something sort of stiff and something that wont get linty because I have the cutest white faux fur bolero to wear with it. I think I'll need to make a muslin of this one first. And I'll need a hat of course.

 

[1*Cool*Kitten]

Regarding sewing;A word to the "wise"

Ladies of the FL~
(Please forgive errors of spelling & punctionation I tried to dl the spell thingy & it wouldn't do it!)
I might warn you I have the afore mentioned patterns on the pervious posts, along with one that I was going to show all of you that I've cut out 3 weeks ago,started sewing at 9 am on sunday the 8th (It was a very simple dress I've made thousands of over the years) should have been a 4 hour dress from the time I got the material out of the washer/dryer to the time I put it on to mark the hem!Yeah! not this pattern! it was a McCall's # M4769!Just 2 weeks previous to that I'd made a girl at the Beauty shop her Holloween costume (that's another story). When i finely got the McCalls "Housedress" ready for button's I'd heard my size 2 daughter come home!(don't gasp ladies She had GBS!What she went through, OMG!) I, for all my life, have been a size 10-12 my figures a little "fuller" now! Hips 42,Bust 35,waste 37/38 I'm a PEAR!:eusa_doh: ok so now that you get an idea of my shape..... the housedress would have been great!I KNOW BETTER from years of sewing~ I KNOW BETTER!Never cut out your pattern on your fabric until you've gareenteed the pattern to be accurate! which I haven't done on so many occassions! I just cut out a swing coat out of Fleece finsihed it tonight actually! in a Medium!Butterick B4928.cut out the MEDIUM......I'm swimming in it! :rage: This is crazy! I'm telling you ladies buy a bolt of Muslin for $20 (ok $30) but still what that saves you in the long run is worth it!
I was so agravated that my pretty little green plaid housedress fits my daughter perfectly eventhough I cut the size 18 out and DIDN"T take the 5/8" seams I was so upset that I said if you don't wear this dress I'm finding one of the ladies on the Lounge to sell it to! she loves the color!the matched plaid,& the "cute cuffs" she say's "but one thing....[then she put her hands on the side seams & much to her surprize she found] pockets!" she was amazed!
I'm just telling you ladies befor you ruin beautiful black velvet or georgous taffeta.........make a "sample" out of cheap muslin first! (& Don't forget to wash & dry that fabric first befor you cut it out!!!)
OK my job is done! Whew!

 

[Anwen]

Ooh, everyone looks fabulous in their party frocks! I'm not sure what to do about party wear this year, I've lost a lot of weight since coming off some nasty medication and I've already bought quite a few new clothes, so can't really justify a party frock as well. I have a nice little black dress which is quite slinky and could be dressed way up, but it's kind of boring to just always do the LBD.

So far my plans for Xmas 'dos' are a work thing where we'll be having a "staff away day" in the daytime then going for dinner and ice skating in the late afternoon and over the actual festive period my daughter and I are going to be in Copenhagen with her dad and his girlfriend and their daughter, and we'll be staying with the girlfriend's mum and stepdad for actual Xmas day. I would quite like a nice dress of some sort, as it sounds like people make a bit of a fuss in Denmark, but I'm not sure.

 

[analiebe]

Like usual, I don't have any parties/events to attend to, ever lol

i'm the same darlin' med... and as i work in retail i only get christmas day & new years day off... so no opportunity for family dinners either as they all live interstate or overseas so no party dresses for me either BUT i will be hunting a cute new vintage apron to throw over a housedress so i can help prepare & serve christmas lunch to my crotchety ol' homeless pals at a local melbourne shelter... this has become my annual christmas day ritual for the last 5 years and i love it!!

 

[Anwen]

I'm now looking at dresses, oops! Can't find anything partyish that's terribly VI so far, but I am quite keen on both of these http://www.littlewoods.com/rf/p.do/...s_item_loc_id=1&product=598837541&pageSize=14 and http://www.littlewoods.com/rf/p.do/...s_item_loc_id=1&product=598837925&pageSize=14 The first is a bit more VI, the second is probably more partyish.

 

[Goldfish]

I don't know what I will wear clothing wise yet, but my makeup is planed:
Chanel Gondola on my nails and champagne-gold eye makeup.
I think I will wear some elegant black clothes and let the hair, makeup & nails get all the attention .