The Colette Wren at The Yorkshire White Rose Awards

On Monday we attended the White Rose Awards at the Leeds Arena.  It is the largest celebration of tourism excellence in the UK.  The dress code was black tie.  I didn’t need any more encouragement than that to fire up my creative juices and make a new frock!

I’ve already written a post about my first and second muslin of the new Wren dress pattern from Colette.  I had 5m of this sparkly silvery ponte knit from Minerva.  I originally bought 2m to make my sister a coco for her birthday but then couldn’t resist and had to buy some more for me.

I intend to write a full post later about the nitty gritty of the other changes I wanted and also needed to make to the pattern so it would be perfect for my chosen fabric and the occasion!

This post is all about the finished dress and the awards ceremony.

All dressed up and somewhere to go!!  Hubby scrubs up well too, don’t you think?!

Wahay! Look at that thigh high spit!  Best be careful how I sit, don’t want to be doing a Sharon Stone!

I felt amazing in my new dress and it was reassuring to know that no one else there would have a dress like mine!  With one thousand guests attending i bet there weren’t many others who could say that!

Check out those sheer sleeves!  Think they’re my favourite part.

The extra length and the sway back adjustment ensured a perfect fit on the back bodice.

Got a bit carried away with the photo shoot!

For the eagle eyed amongst you, have you noticed my hair’s different that the photo with the hubby?  I did my hair and makeup and took some more pix today with the help of the tripod and the zapper.

So now a few pics from the night…….

Here’s me doing the local park run!!

Our table, chocca block with cutlery, glasses…. AND WINE!

Special Guests……. The Original Calendar Girls from the Women’s Institute in Knapely.

They were celebrating the opening of a new musical inspired by their story:

image from the leeds grand theatre, click on the image to be taken to their website and buy tickets!!

Then we had 2 more special guests!!  Gary Barlow (needs no introduction) and Tim Firth who had both written songs for the new musical.

And they both got made honorary Yorkshire men!

There were other special guests – Leeds Rhinos Rugby players and Yorkshire Cricketers.

I had a selfie with Alex Lees – one of the young and handsome cricketers.

And some bloke from Emmerdale.  No idea who he is but the table next to us were all from Emmerdale and he was the best looking!

The food was amazing, especially the pudding. I can’t believe they dished up a thousand of these!!

After the awards and dinner we danced and drunk wine until the early hours.

And boy was I glad to get my shoes off when I got home!

With a hubby who is 11 inches taller than me I need some help in the height stakes!

Click HERE to see Stay tuned later in the week when I’ll be post how I altered the pattern to make it maxi length and other changes too.