I fell in love with this cocktail print fabric the instant I saw it on Etsy. I had to have it!! What to make with it? A cocktail dress, of course!
This dress is a mash up of a Lekala shift bodice with french darts, a Vogue pleated skirt, and a self drafted sleeve, which I think might be based on a Butterick pattern.
I cut the bodice first, then the skirt and last the sleeves and cuffs. The original bodice has a slit neck, I recut this into a scoop. I assembled the bodice starting with the french darts, then the shoulder seams, then the side seams. I tried it on to make sure it would fit ok.
Next I did made the skirt by sewing the tucks in each skirt section, then sewing all the sections together. I put the bodice on and marked where I wanted the drop waist to sit on my body, then sewed the skirt to the marked waist line.
I interfaced the spot where the sleeve vent sits with a tiny piece of light weight interfacing. This stabilizes the fabric so it doesn’t stretch, strengthens it, and prevents raveling. I like to use faced slits in light weight sleeves like this, so I interfaced a small rectangle of fabric to prevent raveling and used that as my facing.
I used a bias band to face the scooped neckline.
The hem was a struggle. My attempt at a blind stitched hem resulted in some puckering. When I tried to undo it, the fabric started to run a bit. I pressed everything as best I could, and topstitched it down. Most of it looks good except for near one side where the puckering seems to be permanent.
sewingroomcafe 