"birthday dress" - reversible slip dress

inside my little birthday parcel (thanks to Ms Genie J) were two v pretty sheets of sheer, silky fabric... one with repeated hexagonal dots, squares, herringbone and floral motives,
the other, a glistening lining of snowwhite silk

immediately the fabric morphed into a dress in my mind - a loose fitting slip dress... but how was i to transform my "birthday (fabric) dress" into a reality with my v limited sewing skills?

objectives = 1)maximise the display of both fabric esp the sheer quality 2)include multiway elements (reversible & extra scarf/belt) 3)techically easy to make
i searched on various sites for ideas and patterns... i wore my stripy silk dress for insipration...
in the end, i decided on a patternless design...
first i cut a strip off both fabric for my scarf / belt (thinking... even if i stuffed the dress up, i would still have a pretty scarf to wear!)

making the scarf wasn't too hard technically... i only had to sew straight...
now that i had the scarf / belt / tie done, i could get on with the dress (which proved to be much more diff than i first thought)


design elements = 1)reversible dress (pattern-side and snowwhite-side being interchangable, had to remember finishing the seams on both sides) 2)changable neck opening / neckline (so it could be worn with a tight high neckline - sort of halter neck looking, or a loose draping neckline) 3)french-seaming every raw joining edge (to stop fabric from fraying)
a day later... well into the night... i finished!

pattern-side, halterneck style, wide snowwhite belt

snowwhite-side, halterneck style, wide patterned belt

snowwhite-side, loose neckline, loose fitting patterned belt

snowwhite-side, loose neckline, wide patterned belt

pattern-side, loose neckline, loose snowwhite belt

there were numerous mistakes and re-sewing, re-sewing, re-sewing...
the draping was not perfect... the stitches and finishings were pretty rough...
but i learned so much!
snowflake said the pattern-side is prettier and the snowwhite side looked "inside out"... i quite like the snowwhite-side...

well... my "birthday dress" might always look "homemade", but at least i can accessorise with my "birthday scarf/belt" which looks more professionally made!