The "Oregano" Dress

Well! I suppose I'm more of a procrastinator than I'd care to admit......:/ erm.  I was sewing so madly the last week before the ball I actually injured my foot. 

Yes. I sewed so much I came to have an inflamed nerve in the ball of my right foot. This caused my foot to swell, to the point of not even fitting in my pretty rose colored pumps I had diy-ed glitter to to undersides of. Grrr.  I was in a lot of pain as well, and I'd equate it to walking and feeling like one had a splinter in your foot.  Plus the tingly and awkward feeling caused from the swelling.  So Bascha was super sweet and lent me lace slippers (like the kind you can wear inside of a shoe...idk what they are called...???) which I'm afraid I wore out rather quickly :P, but they did look quite nice with my outfit. :) Even though my foot hurt, I just danced anyway (ouch), since I figured we had already invested so much, I couldn't just throw away the experience. I limped a good bit, and sat out a few dances, but I made it. And Ah, this story has an AMAZING ENDING. Which I will include at the bottom of this post!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So on to the dress :). I had bought a lovely Simplicity Pattern a while back, of which I had planned to make a WWII dress from, but hadn't really done anything with.  It was really cute, and by the time my ballgown was taking off, I thought it'd be a good chance to try out a new pattern. Yuck. Gathers, plus 6 inches of fba gathers did not look good. At all. It appeared I had pouches attached to the underside of my boobs. WEIRD. Ah, but Bascha saved the day (She and her mum came over for literally an entire day to help me sew my dress and petticoats!). She draped (go Bascha-first time draping!!) a darted bodice, which fitted in really cute with the sleeves and back, and we scrapped the waistband part. Yay! It looked really, really cute! She did an excellent job and I'm in love with the darts :). 

We did have a problem though....after she helped me put the whole dress together, I tried it on. Only to find out my poor bust was squished into a very strange shape due to the tightness of the bodice. And it was uncomfortable. I'm still not really sure what I did wrong....but I probably messed it up attaching the lining. Bascha did the nice parts, I did the in-siding out and such of the lining. (Oops. Thankfully I was able to fix it.

1947 dress pattern

I cut straight down the front of the bodice to right under the bust. Then I folded it over and stitched the edges to form neat little lapel things. I tacked those down in a few key locations, and that was done.  Then I cut out a triangle, similar to a stomacher, and gave it a sweet heart top.  This I placed under the lapel part of the bodice, and sewed down. To cover any uneven stitches and other nonsense (and just to add something pretty), I put some little "bubbled" trim (I'm not really sure the name for it, neither is Bascha) along those seam lines, forming a V. In between each "bubble" I put two crystal beads and two small strands of little gold glass beads.

I like this picture :). Bascha, you do take some nice photos!! :) I don't have a full body shot of just me alone though, so you readers will have to check out a group picture post to see my whole self.

The sash is sewed down at the back by the zipper, at the side seams, and for a few inches along the waistline on either side in the front. The ties extend nearly to the bottom of the skirt, even when tied in a bow :).

Mama did my hair, and I think it turned out really nice. I slept on the whole thing and wore it the next day, and was even able to wear the front part to church on Sunday. I kind of like the vintage vibe. For my nails I used fake nails (since my real nails broke like the day before) and "chiseled" them into a more pointed tip than 'tis the style now, and painted them red. I lost one during the ball trying to pull a petticoat down some, but Care was smart and had brought the glue with her in her purse. So I was saved much embarrassment. :P

And AH! I'm wearing a mink stole!! It's so gross. :/ 4 real, whole minks. With their poor little ankle bones and toe nails still. I almost didn't wear it, but it looked so good on the dress, and it was period, and my mom found it for $10 at the VV and yeah, so I wore it. Though I was a little disgusted. :O :P It did look pretty though!

The back. You can kind of see my fingernails in this photo too.

the skirt

bodice detailing

And before I forget to tell you, this is how the dress got it's name. :P I had shaved my legs all pretty the night before the ball. I soak my feet in a bath of Epson salts every night-it's supposed to help relieve stress and it's good for sprains and strains (aka my foot injury), and as you can imagine, freshly shaved legs and saltwater did not mix well. Painful. We have little bottles of different essential oils that we put in lotions, or on bruises and things sometimes, and since I like the smell of oregano, mama thought she would add some to my foot bath. We did not dilute it enough. Painful. VERY painful. My feet and hands literally turned red, like as if getting burned, and they stung and itched like mad. And since this dress is kind of an herb green, and this was the night my dress was finished I've thus called it the "Oregano Dress".  It's something I will remember for a long time :)

bodice front. And I'm wearing Bascha's necklace :). She lent that to me for the ball. I'm really not sure if there is a nicer person than Bascha :D Guys, she is awesome! 

And last but not least, my AMAZING STORY. So, by Sunday morning, my foot had only gotten worse. My toes had turned a blue-ish purple, the swelling was huge, and I was losing feeling in that foot. Also, if you pressed on the foot it was like a gel and would turn white in weird way- blah. It was just gross.  We had gone to fellowship at a friends home-church, and at the end of service my Dad told them about my foot and so they came over to pray for it. They have incredible faith, and prayed with much fervor, though never increasing their voices past normal volume, nor waving their arms about, or doing anything weird. Just praying out loud to Jesus in a peaceful manner. And as they prayed for my foot I'M NOT KIDDING the toes turned normal colour (this was in a matter of minutes), the swelling dissipated completely, and the pain disappeared. There was no trace of my foot ever been hurt at all and I was able to walk. If that was not a miracle I'm not even sure what you could call it, I literally watched God heal my foot before my very eyes. I've not had even the slightest trace of pain or discomfort come back since then either. It was completely healed! Praise the Lord! Also during that church service, my little brother was healed of poison ivy on his hands.  He gets it awfully bad, like has to get on steroids, eyes swell shut, legs blister and bust, it's disgusting and super painful. He had it all over his hands that Sunday, and his fingers were huge, red, and blistered. They prayed for his hands too, and we literally watched the poison ivy go away. Like his fingers got smaller, the redness went away, and the poison ivy vanished. VANISHED. I'm not kidding, I saw it happen. Thank you Jesus!!!

That's the Oregano dress, more ballgown posts coming! (Plus petticoat pictures).

~Theresa