creation

It was such a mistake to wait until two days before attending a wedding to start making a dress to wear for the event! It was particularly dumb considering I was planning on making a bombshell dress. It was much more time consuming than I expected. In the end, it turned out alright, but I stressed myself out trying to finish the dress. I ended up finishing it on the day of the wedding.

The fabric I bought was cotton seething in sea foam color. I tend to go for dark blue, purple or lavender so I wanted to try something new. I didn’t realize it was such a bridemaidsy color until I was close to completing  the dress. Thank God that we don’t have the bridesmaid tradition here in Japan. No one thought I looked like a bridesmaid because they don’t know what they are! The game would not have worked if it were a wedding in the States.

The pattern is a Burda pattern that came with Craftsy.com’s Perfect Fit Bombshell Dress class I took. I do like the pattern a lot. The sweet heart neckline is really lovely, and I like the sarong skirt. I did not have enough fabric to make the sarong skirt, so I used the pattern I previously drafted myself. It is an I line skirt with pleats in front and darts in back.

I cut out the smallest size pattern, and made a muslin. I’m not sure what the measurements should be for the smallest size, because I didn’t have time to read directions, but it was way too big for me. I ended up taking 6″ all around the bodice. I’m not sure what happened?! I usually fit the smallest size of the Burda pattern just fine. I was so glad to have made the muslin though! I would not have been happy if I jumped in with the fashion fabric just to discover that the dress didn’t fit at all.

I usually go for an invisible zipper, but as suggested in the class, I used flat zipper. I do like the look of it, and it is easier to zip up than an invisible zipper. Sometimes I fear that I will kill the zipper when I’m using an invisible one.

The entire dress is underlined with muslin fabric. I love the effect of the underlining! It gave so much structure and shape to the dress, without being stiff like it would have, had I used paper-like iron on interface. I finished the skirt slit opening with grosgrain ribbon, that was left-over from making a waist stay.

Here is the look on inside of the dress. I’m pretty happy with how it looks… 🙂 For the top part, I lined it with the same fashion fabric, and also boning. The bust is padded. I attached the lining by hand, while watching Season 4 of project runway.

I am not sure what happened to this stain though?! Can you see this yellow mark I got on skirt? I was not pleased..

This is only the second strapless dress I have ever worn, the previous being my wedding dress. Thanks to boning in the bodice and waist stay it fit pretty well, better than what I would be able to buy at a store. However, I still felt a bit insecure about the bust line, and I had to pay attention not to reveal my breasts accidentally. I felt a bit “bare” at the wedding… everyone else had some kind of shawl or cardigan and I wished that I brought something to cover my shoulder. Surprisingly, the dress fit better by the end of the day, after all the food!

I think I am going to make shoulder straps so I can wear this for other occasions.