November's Dress

I love brocade.  I love that it looks so rich.  I love that it's thick and only half slippery.  I love that it takes me half an hour of staring to decide which to buy at the store.

I don't love that every time you blink it starts fraying.  I especially don't love this when I'm lazy and don't serge every edge.  Just getting this thing on my dress form ripped two or three seams.

I knew from this pattern that I would just go all Asian and make the dress from brocade.  To be honest, I have very little room in my life for a brocade dress, but I have even less room for an Asian-inspired camo dress, or whatever.

This was the first, and only dress I made without pockets.  *Shock* and *gasp*, I know, but any kind of pockets I could imagine would simply ruin the line.  Especially if I ever used them.  And pockets I couldn't use are far worse than no pockets at all.  So I must conclude that a fancy-dressed Chinese woman must always carry a handbag.  Luckily, I have one made from brocade.

Things I learned making this dress:

1. My next sewing goal will be putting pockets in all of my skirts.  It is quite shameful that I make most of them and consistently forget to add pockets. 
2. I need to live in a world where I have excuses to wear brocade.  The type of world where people dress for dinner and frequently through fancy dress balls.  And where I would have no idea where the washing machine is.  
3. There is such a thing as being too dressed up.  I usually err in that direction, but when I wore this to church, I felt overdressed, which was strange.  And led me back to #2.

Close up on front

And the back