Let me tell you : toddling around Ogmore Castle in those heels is no laughing matter… well, it is if you’re watching me do it but that’s beside the point…

This was the last ever project to come from good old Viktoria the German sewing machine! This year at the Summer Ball I wanted to make sure I made my dress myself. I knew that I wanted it to be based from a vintage pattern, but I was pretty fussy on  what I wanted. Every day I kept changing my mind! In the end, I settled on the Butterick reissue 4792:

But alas! Monetary difficulties struck! My last month in Germany was pretty tight on the cash front, so I turned to my stash for help… and most certainly didn’t have enough for the full skirt on the original. So I opted to add a different skirt from this vintage pattern (which I bought from the wonderful ZipZapKap)

There were a few hairy moments along the way where I thought that there was no way I was going to get this to work. Like, argh the bodice looks awful! And eek should I have gone for View no. 2? But in the end it came together.

The neckline on this dress is so awesome, I may have to co-opt it into some sort of blouse version for everyday wear. I also made a belt with a fun belt buckle found on Etsy!

The leopard print heels I wore were so epic that I just had to get a matching umbrella, which naturally was used due to the menacing Swansea rain clouds!

The first two photos are by the wonderful Martha!