"Harsher punishment for parole violaters, Stan...and...world peace."

This year, I was flooded with Halloween costume orders on my Etsy store, just like last year-- except THIS time I was prepared. I stocked up on all the sewing essentials I knew that I would need, and started taking orders in September. I knew I would probably be sewing my butt off until the week before Halloween, so when my friend asked me if I would be willing to make her a special order costume, I was hesitant to add anything more to my plate. She insisted that she wouldn't need it until the day OF Halloween, so I finally agreed to do it. 

She wanted to be Miss Congeniality, from the cover picture on the DVD. That pink dress where she is wearing a sash and holding handcuffs and roses all nonchalantly. It seems funny to me that my friend had never been able to find a similar dress in a store or online, but she said she had looked high and low "forever." Maybe it's just so specific of a gown that it doesn't show up in retail often? I don't know. Anyhow, I started looking for patterns casually whenever I had to go to the fabric store for supplies, and eventually I stumbled across one that looked similar enough to the pink satin goal that is Sandra Bullock's cover gown. 

After finishing all of my store orders by the 27th of October, I began to tackle the pink dress and it turned out to be far more complicated than I thought it would be. I didn't realize it had this entire corset contraption underneath the lining of the dress, complete with interfacing and boning galore. Once zipped up, this dress wouldn't be going anywhere. 

Here's a picture of the inside nonsense once it was finished:

The dress also required a slit to be manufactured into its side, which the pattern did not include. My friend would be wearing this costume to work on Halloween, so it couldn't be quite as revealing as the original dress. I lowered the slit and built it into the right side seam. I'd never done a slit in a dress before, so it was a little tricky, since I had to put the slit into the lining as well, and then sew them together as neatly as possible. Wouldn't want the girl to look like a hussy. 

Anyhow, I was pretty happy with how the dress came together, considering it was unlike anything I've ever made before, and extremely fitted. I've made more corsets in my 25 years of life than I can count, but those are adjustable to size through laces-- this dress had to fit like a glove as is. 

I'm sure if I had to make this dress again, it would turn out more finished-looking, but for a first try, it ain't bad, I suppose. My friend loved it and looked adorable in it, so that's all that really matters. I also got it to her in the nick of time, so that's good too.