Why are there no nice dresses around??

There probably are, but not within the price range I am willing to fork out for :(

In less than 3 weeks I have a wedding and a ball to go to, all on the same weekend. I suspect I could probably re-use an older dress for the ball, but seeing as I am going to be an MC for the wedding, I kinda wanna look good. Obviously, it would be ideal to always look good but since I figure there is more of a chance of people looking in my direction (whether they like it or not MUAAAHAHAHA) I would prefer not to blind them.

Being post-Melbourne Cup period, most of the available dresses are flippy, summery, race-worthy and in lots of cases short - and dare I say even tarty..?

Anyhoo, it occured to me yesterday while I was slaving over the flower girl dress (almost done - just need to buy and put in the zip at the back and hope to goodness that it fits) that maybe I could make myself a dress! After all, I do have my newly purchased and not-yet-assembled dressmaker's dummy to assist it hemming and fitting and darting and all other sewing related type activities!

I don't know though - less than 3 weeks to go, never having made a formal dress before and quite a few social events lined up - am I asking for trouble..?

I'm going to spend 30 minutes looking for an easy, attractive dress pattern online. I figure if I can't find one, it'll be a sign that I might just need fork out for a dress. Bah.