Last Sunday night the whole family went to see the ballet at the State Theatre. It was the Australian Ballet School Graduate Exhibition, where the final year students of the Australian Ballet School perform a number of short works demonstrating the incredible skills they've learned during their years of training at the school. The sell-out crowd goes pretty wild (well wild for the ballet that is!), and I have to admit I shed a few tears during the night (yeah I know - I shed tears at school assembly, but I assure you this was better than assembly!).
Anyway last time I went to the ballet I wished I'd made more of an effort with my outfit. Not that everyone is in evening gowns, but I was wearing an outfit that was well passed its use by date and I felt a bit drab. So this time around I made sure we all had some well overdue new clothes - I got a new dress, Hamish got his first ever shirt, and I made Zoe a Farbenmix Elodie dress, which I've been wanting to make since I first saw the pattern.
The Elodie dress came together beautifully, just like the other Farbenmix patterns I've made. The instructions are in German, but I used the Google translated step by step online instructions and had no issues at all with understanding how to put the dress together. The only problem I had was trying to put an invisible zip in the back, as I couldn't get it to go past the thick velvet ribbon. After eventually breaking the zip I had travelled to two Lincraft stores to buy, I put in a normal zip which worked fine.
The fabric was from Cutting Edge Fabrics in Malvern, which sells ex-designer dress fabrics. Most of the prices are still pretty expensive (up to $100 per metre), but this one was in the bargain bin for something like $4 per metre. The grey leaves are actually flocked and it is quite gorgeous. I'd love to make the same dress again in a bright print as it would be a perfect dress to wear to birthday parties. That will have to stay on the wish list for now though.
If you ever see the Graduate Exhibiton advertised I highly recommend it - tickets are only $35/$25, and the format makes it very accessible for children or people who wouldn't necessarily enjoy sitting through a full length ballet. You need to book early though to get a good seat.
Oooh thats a lovely little dress – love the pattern and the fabric – I bet she wants to wear it all the time – I would.