The 8 O'Clock Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!! CLOSED.

In case you might have missed my previous post I just wanted to again thank you for voting for me in the Shabby Apple Dare to Design Contest. Last night they announced Grosgrain as the winner! And I could not have done it without all of you behind me.

Speaking of contests I have my own little one in the works. It involves all of you. I hope you approve. Look for it next week!

Now, back to this dress! As I mentioned before I am trying to make a few more adult dresses. Some more girly some more sleek. This one leans toward the sleek.

I made the skirt extra long. It extends past the knees but it also tapers to a point. I would call it more of a pencil than a tulip. I don't think I've ever tried a tulip before. But I'd like to someday.

I've seen some strange tulip skirts lately. The kind you might see on Project Runway. I don't know if I'd have the courage to make a skirt like that but something inside me wants to try someday. I don't think many people would like it but I think it would be worth the time to see the outcome.

This dress is made out of a mustard colored knit material. I bought it at this amazing fabric store in Amish Country. They had an enormous amount of knit fabrics in all sorts of colors and patterns. I was in heaven.

For some reason JoAnn and other chain fabric stores don't carry a wide selection of knits. And although I'm not a big fan of using knits for dresses I have to say that every once in a while they really are great.

They don't require a zipper and they don't fray. It only took me about an hour and 45 minutes to make this dress, that included the pattern! I sewed it a couple hours before Abi came over to model it!

I bought the belt at Forever 21. It is included with the dress. I sort of debated keeping it for myself but I really can't wear it now anyway and I think that it totally 'makes' the dress. I love a good big leather belt. It can give a punch to a simple dress like this one.

The sleeves are unique. I've never made sleeves like these before. Although I think they would have looked better if I had used a stiffer material.

They are just 3" by 7" strips of knit material. I thought it had a modern yet feminine look. To make them stand out more I'd add an inch or two to make them 5" wide. I might try using the look again for a later dress.

I sewed a cowl scoop for the neckline. I do have some regrets about the neck. I wanted to make a much fuller cowl. I guess next time I will have add twice as much material. Overall I think it was a more modern dress. But something that you could wear to work or a party.

Thanks to Abi for coming over again and modeling for me. But I have to admit that I need a few new backdrops. We were sort of at a loss as to what to do in the photos.

I'm getting sooooo bored with my standard white, blue, orange and grey. I'd love to get some modern wallpaper and set up a hardwood floor in the basement. Perhaps after the baby is born.

I'm definitely getting one of those lights I mentioned in my A Few of my Favorite Things post. I think shining those lights on my subject is going to do WONDERS for my setup.

Abi said I should post a picture of what it really looks like down there since you never see any of the weird basement in the photos. I thought that would actually be a good idea. So look for that too if you want a good laugh.

I would say this dress would fit a size 5-8.

If you have any questions see the "questions and answers" link at the top.

Now, in case you might have missed my survey results post....there are some changes to entering a Grosgrain contest!

Many of you said that you would like to enter more giveaways, but have various issues with linking. Of course, I want anyone that is interested in entering a giveaway to be able to do so.

Therefore, from now on, giveaways can be entered in three ways:

1) By linking (to your blog, facebook, myspace, or any other site)

2) By leaving a comment without a link or

3) By linking and leaving a comment (this will be worth 2 entries which will better your chances of winning). Find more info under the FAQ page.

If you are leaving a link just use the 'create a link' at the bottom of this post or simply creating a post on your blog and including this link.

If you use blogger just use the "create a link" link at the bottom of this post. If you don't use blogger, that's fine too. Just create a link on your page as you normally would and I will see it using Technorati.

Create a Link

NOTE: Blogger is fixing an error with the 'Create a Link' Link. This applies to all 'Create a Links' on all pages. You might get an error code: bX-w3yevs. If you do, check your page to see if it posted anyway. If it hasn't and you want to create a link just do so by posting it to your blog the way you would normally make a post. (ie, the old fashioned way). I will let you know here when this problem is fixed.