Zoom Gown Flashback, Hemming and Mending

Today, I was up at the crack of dawn to greet the plumber, who disassembled our old hot water tank, and installed a new one. Being in a condominium, we're responsible for our own hot water tanks and their expiry, and believe me, it is No Fun to be awakened at 3am because the ground floor neighbour's place is flooding. We've had it happen to our wall-share neighbours (we had to check to see if it was ours or theirs), and so L and I always replace ours when it's due. 

What on earth does this have to do with wearing a gown? Well, I had a shower (go, me!) in case something catastrophic happened with the water. I have our weekly Zoom call with Mom, which I get dressed for. And I dove into my mending while I waited for the plumber to be done, and I was reminded of this dress - it needed some TLC. 

I have a collection of gowns that I rotate for dressy parties, and this is one I'd rescued from the giveaway pile, put there last year as it was looking a little tattered. But it's such a beautiful gown, so I gave it another chance. 

• Dress - thrifted; last worn here (3rd outfit) in October 2017 for a collective $149th birthday celebration
• Shoes - Big Presence Desmond, Fluevog; last seen here in February with big orange plaid

I am a big fan of this cheongsam style of dress - it's been in the fashion lexicon for close to 100 years, with the most recent trendy era for it being the late 90s/early 00s. 

It's a classic shape, characterized by the fitted cut, the side fastening, the stand-up collar and the fabric frogs that button across the chest seam. 

Also by the ginormous slit up the side so that I can walk and sit. 

We'll have a very small Flashback on it below - this is only the 3rd time I've worn it. 

I am happy it still fits, although it's a little boob-mashy and I have to pull it up to sit in it. It's a Standing Dress!

It has zero stretch - it's a woven polyester brocade. 

The stuff: 

I no longer have the silver party platforms that I've previously worn with the dress, so I wore these blue pumps (Mom approved!). 

Silver bling: 

Actually, two of these are steel: the solid cuff and the earrings. 

• Steel cuff - thrifted
• Cage cuff - Bauxo
• Earrings - gift from Lise
• Silver/crystal ring - Soul Flower
• Lapis lazuli ring - Wendy Brandes

Flashback: Brocade Cheongsam Gown

I purchased this gown for $12.95 here in July 2016, found in the vintage section at WIN and looking little sad. 

I loved the cherry blossom pattern, the rich blue colour and the silver satin trim. 

As noted, it has zero stretch...and also no label, no manufacturer's marks or evidence of factory assembly. It is unlined, and has serged finishing on the fabric edges, so I think it might be handmade, and from the late 90s/early 00s, likely for a special occasion and only worn once. 

I was so excited about it, I modeled it as soon as I got home from my Sunday shopping trip. It was a perfect fit. 

Gratitude to the person who donated it. I feel like a movie star in it. 

I wore it in November 2016 to my company's Christmas party, showing off my then-new arm tattoos. 

Vizzini barging in. Our big holiday party is usually around 300 people - can you imagine? That feels so weird now. 

You can see here that the hem is looking a little dubious. 

It needed to be completely redone, but I just threw a few safety pins on there because I am lazy an efficient problem-solver that way.

I last wore it in October 2017 for Randall's and my 50th birthdays, and Chris' 49th. Big party! 

I danced the night away in this and felt so fabulous. 

I wore my little cropped blue fur jacket with it. 

Classy! However, all these party shenanigans wreaked havoc on the hem of the dress, as the skinny heels kept catching on the loose stitches. 

Mathy stuff: See, this is why I always look for gowns second-hand. I've now worn it three times, which is a mere $4.32 per wear. You can't say that about too many gowns! 

Now that I've worn it - and fixed it! - again, I will put this beauty back into rotation for a party (when we can have parties again). It's also in my collection available as a loaner to my friends who need a gown (I've done this a few times). 

Here's the mending I did. It felt good to accomplish this, which inspired me to play in my closet - I test-drove an outfit I had in my head (and made a course correction), tried other stuff on and put outfits together. It felt good. 

This is the front hem of one of my around-the-house sweaters; it was coming apart with the potential for ladders/runs and a bigger hole. I keep my home clothes presentable too. 

This recently thrifted silk blouse needed a bit of care. It has matching shoulder pads, which I've chosen to keep. 

I used to hate it when my shoulder pads folded themselves in half or slid around, so I redid one of the shoulder stitches, and loosely tacked the corners onto the side seam to hold it in place (but not too tight). 

I also reinforced the bottom of the loop at the back of the neck, as it was starting to tear. 

It looks messy, but those are tiny stitches. 

And here's the hem of the cheongsam gown. It had evidence of a hasty hemming over the original serged/invisible hem when I bought it, and that ripped further when I wore it from my heel catching on loose stitches. 

I did tiny fairly close together stitches to make it secure. That silver is the back side of the blue fabric - it's really nice material. 

Here's the front side of the hem. 

Not bad, eh? I fixed my gown!

Vizzini, aren't you impressed? 

"I'm still traumatized from the plumber, Woman."

Aw, poor little guy. It was stressful, but it's all over now. Time for some cuddles!