The Crab Dress Goes On Holiday

Yes, the Crab Dress went on vacation! The Crab Dress and I took a cruise, along with my mother. Here is a shot of our ship from St. Thomas, a gorgeous island that I would love to visit again:
We also visited Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, in a nine day trip. It was lovely, and best of all, I got to wear the silk dress I made for the Heart Ball (but didn't wear) that I posted about here. The dress was complete, however, for the cruise and I wore it for one of our formal nights.

I put the zipper in by hand; it was the first one I have ever done by hand and I don't know if I did it right, but here it is:
Here it is from inside the bodice:
And here is the back while I have it on:
I used bias hem tape a la Summerset and put in a machine hem since the circle skirt went forever and I was in a hurry. Worked like a charm:

I made a sash for the dress, and used my new serger (well, new to me). I was impressed at how fast and easy it was to make by sergering alone. I used a few hand stitches to close up the 4 inches or so I left open to turn it inside out: Here is a not so great photo of the dress with the crinoline:

But Mother liked it better without the crinoline, plus, I didn't want to pack the crinoline for the cruise, so I wore it without it:I love this dress, the way it feels, the way it moves, and even the smell of the silk. The photos, in my opinion, don't do it justice, and it has nothing to do with any skill I may or may not have - the fabric does all the work for me!

The cruise was special in many respects but especially for this: at least three of the evenings Mother and I each wore dresses that I had made to dinner. Did I get photos of all of these? Nooooo, of course not. But we did get photos of some which I will show in the next couple of weeks.

Parting Shot: In the end, it is probably good that I didn't wear the silk dress to the Heart Ball and wore the predictable little black dress. Because this is what my date wore!