The V&A Dress Completed

As you can see my V&A Couture Dress is finished. Unfortunately it turned out rather not so couture. This is mostly because I thought I would be clever and economical and environmentally friendly at the same time by using thrifted fabric I had found at a market in Vienna earlier this year. The fabric seemed fine at a first inspection but as I was already far into the project the fabric revealed itself to be quite a bit older and of poorer quality than I had thought. It just ripped! Yes, ripped! Everywhere! The slightest little tug here or there and....RIP! Pictured here is a close-up of  the biggest rip, which is at the side of the skirt, where the skirt joins the bodice. Look at it! How sad!

But I was already so far into the project that I was derermined to complete it. And I'm telling you it's a sad, sad feeling when you are finished sewing a dress and then need to continue on mending it. Fortunately the farbic has a very busy pattern, so the rips I had to mend are not that visible - at least not from far away. But I've yet to wear the dress. I'm too afraid to go anywhere in it, in case the dress accidentally falls off me. I mean how embarrassing would that be? Especially after someone has already asked me if I made this myself. But I am determined to wear it at some point. Perhaps out dancing, because dance venues are usually very poorly lit and swirling in the dress is indeed a joy:

I drafted the bodice myself, because as I mentioned in my previous post on this dress, I didn't like the band across the bust in the original pattern. It was easier to just draft a new bodice based on the V&A Couture Dress which fit my shape. The skirt is from the pattern exactly. I only adjusted the width of the skirt at the waist to fit my own bodice piece and shortened it a little. The project would have been quite easy if I had actually had good fabric to work with. But because of my poor fabric choice this was truly a project from hell, because it is not fun seeing the dress you are making disintegrate before your eyes as you are making it.

So let me ask you: Do you sew with thrifted fabric? Have you had any bad experiences? Does anyone have good tips on how to spot whether the fabric you are thirfting is in a good condition or not? Your tips are greatly appreciated because right now I feel like never working with thrifted fabric ever again. But I know that a lot of people have good results with thrifted fabric. Please share your advice and experience!