Sew Very Lovely: DIY Evening Dress

The evening dress is finally complete.

I feel like there was a lot of build up to this moment throughout the month and there were so many moments when I thought that I was going to finish much earlier than I anticipated. I knew going in that this was going to be my hardest project to date and it was though, not in the way that I imagined that it would be. As you know, this dress was inspired by the Oscar De La Renta gown that I talked about in a previous post. I knew that I wanted a classic bodice with a chevron paneled skirt in order to achieve a similar look.

To achieve the perfect retro bodice, I used Butterwick B6353 which is designed by Gertie. I zipped through Gertie's pattern and the bodice was so pretty to just look at. Not going to lie, I had some serious sewer's pride going on. I couldn't believe how professional the bodice looked and the fact that I, I did that!?

Then, I moved onto self-drafting the skirt and this is where it the dress became a challenge.

I self-draft a lot with my upcycles and ninety percent of the time it turns out okay so I wasn't too concerned with trying to come up with a skirt. This should be loosely translated as, 'I had no fear and cut all the fabric!' Did I mention that I cut all the fabric? Cause, I did. Almost the entire 3.5 yds, into 20" panels. In my mind, fabric equated fullness, volume. I am here to tell you that it does not. After I cut my 20" panels, I took two panels, mirrored them, and then cut them diagonally. This was to create the chevron pattern from horizontal lines. I quickly noticed that my chevron panels were no longer rectangular rather, they took on the shape of triangles. Of course, I rationalized that the shape change didn't matter, cuz I'm just gonna gather it anyways, duh!

So, I sewed my panels together, matching each line perfectly. It looked so beautiful. There was a lot happy dancing in the living room that night. And then, I sewed the skirt to the bodice.

Sigh. It looked awful.

The fabric was overwhelming around the waist and the skirt needed to be removed. Once removing it from the bodice, I also removed several panels to create a flattering gather at the waistline. This is when the triangular shape of the chevron panels became really noticeable. The front chevron panel created a bubble effect which made the dress look less evening gown and more maternity-esque. I was so reluctant to let go of the chevron in the front since they were the basis of this dress and I was really hopeful that it could be saved. I asked my grandmother how to fix the shape with out losing the chevron and she simply said: “Sometimes you have to do what you’ve got to do.” Well, the front chevron panel was removed shortly after.

I’m not going to lie, I am really disappointed that there’s only one chevron panel left in the dress but, I did learn a lot and, in the end, it turned out okay. There are so many things about this dress that I would do differently if I had more fabric and a little more patience. Since I was over it in the end, I didn’t add the rest of the lining into the dress. Only the bodice is lined which is silly and not recommended. Now the lining tends to creep up the in the back, yikes! The dress kind of took on a life of it's own and in some ways I am really happy with it and in others I accept as a learning experience. I still love the bodice. It's absolutely beautiful and I think that I am going to make the B6353 dress in it's entirety.

Anyhow, here is the final dress!