Now that I’ve sorted (and catalogued) all the vintage patterns I bought on eBay with the money I’d planned on using in Houston, I can get started on my next wearable.  I had hoped to have it finished by Christmas, but that’s not likely.  Things have been busy in the Duck Soup Studio!  But, at the very least, I want to have it ready and entered into the Dallas show, so I have to have something ready to take a picture by Jan 1st.  I’m thinking I’ll take a picture of the lining, since it’s essentially the same silhouette as the dress.

For those of you not from around here, you probably have never heard Austin called The City of the Violet Crown.  O. Henry was the first to put that in writing, actually.  Austin and Rome, apparently.  There’s this beautiful atmospheric effect that happens at sunset, mostly in the late summer, where the city looks like it’s glowing violet along the horizon.

Gorgeous, no?  And with my friend Marcia Kaylackie winning the Violet Crown Award this year, I’ve had the phrase on the brain.  It sounded so beautiful and I just adore violets.  I was originally going to make my opera gown as Violet Crown but changed my mind when I saw this vintage pattern on Out of the Ashes

I scanned the line drawings from the instructions and have been doodling different ideas for a few days now.  Cause, cataloging patterns is kinda boring and a girl’s gotta take a break now and then, right?  It’s been hard for me to figure out how to make the quilting design work with both the real Violet Crown and what people are going to see if they don’t know and only hear “crown” in the title.  This is where I am right now:

Ignore the bows and the trim.  I don’t know yet whether I want to do the button placket down the front or not.  It may be too much visually or it may really need the addition.  The ruffle at the bottom with have an overlay of longarm lace shot with irridescent threads to make it look like the lights of the city in the picture above.  The overall dress will probably be a blue-purple but I haven’t found the right color just yet.  Anyone have any thoughts on lining?  I’m leaning towards a lighter violet or a cereulean blue but I would love to hear some ideas and opinions.