Since there was really no time I needed to find something simple from the movie in a fast pace. I then remembered that there was another look a like titanic pattern for my 1st favorite dress the "swim" dress and I could make that. I bought Simplicity 8399 in the Misses size 12, 14, 16 (not even my right size to begin with). Misses�s was the only size it came in and they did not have above size 16. So I bought it and took it home anyways, not knowing about patterns and such.
Since I did not know how to sew, I asked around and found no one, everyone was to busy and so I asked my sister to ask around and a girl that was in a hospital program with my sister who just had just had someone make her prom gown recommended a lady who made her gown for her recommended her to my sister who told me. She lived in the same town that this hospital program was at. From where I lived it was about 25-30 minutes away from me.
I contacted the lady and I told her about my pattern and what I was wearing it for and she agreed to make it for me. I went to her house for measurements and to meet her, she saw the pattern and after that she was really excited to make it for me.
She was currently a costume mom for a H.S. near me who was doing a play at the same time and she was busy with that, but she could squeeze me in to. The lady did a good job on it but she made it really small at the bust and the sleeves. It was so tight I could not lift my arms up because I actually ripped a little of the under arm when I took my pictures with my dad.
I wondered why it was so small and then I found out she made it into a size 12 (not even my size) When she was taking the measurements I thought she was going to use size 16, and I asked her about it and she told me my body measurements was closer to the size 12. When the final fitting came I had forgotten that she made the size 12 and was wondering why it was hard to my arms and why it was so small at the bust. The final fitting came and I tried it on and then she asked for a little more money than what she asked for (she was buying a new house and needed the money). I think the total ended up being somewhere between 85-95 dollars. A couple of months later I remembered that I did not get my pattern back and so I called her back up and she agreed to send it back to me and took down my address but it never came. I called her again, and she said it came back to her and she would mail it out the same week it just never came. I called again and her daughter answered and took down my number and she never called me back. So I went to their house only to find they had already moved out because the house was empty. I felt like I got ripped off, and I was lied to.
A couple of years went by and then I came across the sensibility site and saw that she had an even closer pattern to the movie gown. So I�m kind of glad I did not get the other pattern back. However if I can not find a copy of mc calls 2035 I will probably have to re-purchase this pattern to make the �jump� dress someday and use that as my base. I will get it in a larger size.
I did have a wonderful time at the ball, and people were excited to see my dress that I had been talking about for a few months. A lot of people complemented me and when I told them it was from a movie and that someone put it together for me they were even more surprised and that it was very unique and a creative thing to do. It was unique. From other pictures that I have seen that other people have taken, you can actually see that people staring at my gown.