In which some progress was made...

 So, I have slightly less than 4 weeks until I need the next MOG outfit.  This wedding is at a state park in the next county, so it's a bit closer to home.  But it's also a bit fancier.  IE, the bridesmaids...and the MOB...will be in black, mostly so they will show up against the sky behind the bluff on which the ceremony will take place.  But they are all wearing long black dresses.

So, yeah, I'm gonna hafta go a bit more upscale.

Now, I *do* have a failsafe;  we went to my hubby's 50 year class reunion two weeks ago and I wore something that I can just dress up a bit more with a better topper, shoes and jewelry...Under the Chico's sweater are a couple of Loes Hinse patterns...a black slinky Twinset shell and a Swing skirt, sans flounce, added pockets from the Oxford pants.

Not quite as uptown as I would like but if I have a fiasco in the sewing room it will do...because I'm doing a technique I haven't tried before. I am starting with this Vogue dress pattern; 

It's a simple sheath dress...you can see it better in the line drawing:

Today I finally got around to doing the first go at alterations...I did my normal narrow square shoulder adjustment, a FBA, and added some extra width.  I also added an underlap to the center back slit...I prefer a vent to a slit.  There are only two pattern pieces.

I had a huge chunk of nondescript gray cotton fabric that I bought 3 years ago to make face masks...I have no idea why I got so much?  It must've been on sale, lol. Anyway, it will do fine for a muslin.

I added a seam allowance to the center front; I will sew up the back seam and leave the front unsewn so I can just pin up the center front to close up the muslin.  Save messing with a zipper.  I'll put the seamline on a fold when I cut The Good Stuff.

I am omitting the vertical darts... I don't need that shaping (thank you middle age spread), but after doing the FBA that is one honkin' big bust dart.  I would  just convert it to a princess seam but...the whole reason I'm doing this simple pattern is because I am doing a lace overlay (which I have not done before) and I want to keep the structure as simple as possible, to not interfere with the lace.

We'll see how it looks once the muslin is sewn up.