Hi Guys! I can’t believe it’s already been 2 months since South Florida Frocktails happened! I’ve been meaning to make a post about the dress I made for the night. I had been thinking about what I was going to make for a while and finally settled on what I was going to make once I found my fabric.
Let’s Talk Fabric
I headed over to my local fabric store, A to Z Fabrics, and started looking around. I went there because they have such a large selection of fabrics, and I just KNEW I was going to find what I was looking for there. I then came across this blue brocade fabric. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it because 1. It’s blue (my fave color), and 2. because it’s double sided and I could use either side I wanted to use. The underside of the fabric is black with the same line detail as the front of the fabric.
Since I had picked out my fabric, I then decided on finalizing the pattern I was going to use for my make. I decided to use Simplicity 1115 which is unfortunately out of print, but you can still find it online. Initially, I wasn’t sure if I was going to make pants or a skirt bottom. I decided to make a gathered skirt with a split.
Fitting Mishap
In full transparency, I totally goofed when I was fitting and sewing the bodice. I sewed a size 16 and graded out at the waist to a size 24. When I initially made my muslin, I still had to do some pinning at the bust to make it fit. Once I got the fit right, I went and cut out my fashion fabric and sewed it up. Then I tried it on, and the bodice didn’t fit! I had sewn some of the pieces upside down when I sewed my muslin so when I sewed up the fashion fabric, I sewed it how I was supposed to and this is why it didn’t fit. I had to back track to figure out exactly what I did. Well, how did I fix this mess? I numbered all the seams with the pattern number I’m supposed to sew it to. I also labeled what was the top and bottom of each pattern piece and then I went on to sew the fashion fabric and it finally fit. For the skirt, I simply made a gathered skirt and added a split and attached the skirt to the bodice.
If you look at the photos of my sketch and the photos from Frocktails, they are not the same. lol When I envisioned my dress, I wanted to add something of interest to the sleeve so that it wouldn’t just be a bustier dress. I wanted to add something of interest. I came up with this almost 3D looking sleeve. I added horsehair braid to make it stand up and added rhinestones to it. Another moment of transparency. I sewed this piece at the last minute, the day of Frocktails! Yes, I know. I’m a hot mess. I didn’t have time to attach the sleeve to the bodice and just brought it with me to Mood. We couldn’t start setting up at Mood until about 4:30 PM since the store was still open to the public so we had to rush and set up. Basically, I ran out of time as the guests were starting to arrive and I decided not to attach the sleeve. This is why you don’t see it in the Mood photos. If you want to see more photos from the night and a recap, you can read about it HERE.
I wanted to get photos with my sleeve attachment and so here we are. I went out with my girl Dayana and she took a few shots of me in my dress. I think the sleeve attachment needed its own moment, don’t you think?
Until next time,
Johanna
