Plum Medieval Dress: Finished!

I finished the medieval dress that I have been working on for more than a year in time for this year's Halloween! And it was gorgeous! I was so incredible happy and proud wearing this dress on Halloween!

The pattern is Simplicity 2573, view B.

Instead of the binding, I added seam allowances and sewed the bodice to the lining. I hand stitched the trim, grommets on the dress, and the hem on the dress. The underdress has french seams everywhere I could swing it. The lacings in the bodice are leather. The dress is a rayon/wool blend. The belt is silk charmeuse with a bracelet for a ring. The bodice is lined in china silk and the underdress is linen.

This is the first dress that I have ever sewn and I am so extremely proud of it! Anyway, more pictures:

One of the reasons that I picked this dress for my first ever complete dress was because I knew that the design would require little-to-no fitting. However, as you can see in the picture above, I probably should have done some kind of an adjustment to the back. There was apparently too much fabric in the back, although I am not entirely sure what one does to fix that sort of thing.

I wore the costume to work and got tons and tons of comments. One coworker asked if I would be willing to make one for his wife. I went full-on Selfish Seamstress and said "No way!" My favorite interaction of the day went something like this:
Girl: Whoa! I really like your dress. (pause) Oh, it's a costume.
Me: Yeah.
Girl: Where did you get that?
Me: I made it.
Girl: Oh. (pause) How long did it take you to make it?
Me: About 40 hours (some additional explanation about hand stitching that wouldn't be necessary...)
Girl: I would totally wear that dress.

I also got loads of compliments on the color. And on my headpiece (which I had made for my wedding).

There are a few other posts with more detail on my blog here and pattern review is here. Thanks for stopping by!

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Frivolous photo: My lovely boys went as minions for Halloween. I blogged about the hats I made earlier, but had to share this amazing picture from Halloween itself.