Hello All! Starting this post with a big THANK YOU to the gorgeous Renay, Kat & Lib for their wonderful organisation of the Melbourne frocktails event! It was my first, and such a joy to be around all the other Melbourne based seamstresses! It was a fabric feeling cocktail drinking frenzy - and I loved every second of it!
For my dress - I channelled one of my fellow blogger fashion icon of mine - Heather Lou: Closet Case Files. I saw this dress a few years ago and pinned it with the intention of creating a similar look.. at some point! I just couldn't find the right occassion. What better occassion than frocktails to make a frivolous frock and flower crown!!?
I made up Vogue 8827 - which I have since heard is now out of print! I nabbed it about 2 years ago in one of the amazing $1.99 sales - so I am feeling pretty smug about that right about now! You may still find it in your local spotlight or similar. I used VIEW C, which is the maxi length with the wrap around waist tie and one sided shawl collar.
It took me a bit of umming and ahhing to create the shawl collar and the facings, as I have never used a Vogue pattern before. I am much more used to the gentle hand holding from independant designers. But I am glad I kept up and persevered as I love the finished piece. It was probably one of my more time consuming projects, I stopped several times to have a bit of time to think about those steps before picking it up again so I didn't rush it.
I used french seams for the entire piece, wanting to keep it as floaty as possible and maintain the gorgeous drape of the fabric. And a little ironing accident resulted in the sleeves being a bit shorter than originally drafted. However, I think I would have shorted them anyway regardless of the ironing incident! The fabric was a polyester crepe I picked up at Spotlight after christmas (probably the only thing in the entire store that wasn't on sale), but I loved the print and drape so into the cart it went!
I went a bit fancy and lengthened the belt (the pattern piece indicates to cut three, and I cut and joined four pieces). I also angled the edge for a bit more of a fancy finish. I used some dainty little stitches to secure the faces in place, but I think I will need to add a few extra stitches as it still billowed around at times.
I also made a flower crown.Because. Well. Flower Crown - enough said. I had no plans to do this until Megan Neilsen put up her video tutorial which was excellent and easy to follow. It was a very cheap make as well! I got the wire and tape for about $7- each from spotlight and just picked up a $5- posy from my local florist on the morning of frocktails. I'm not going to cover how to make it - because the tutorial is the bees knees and I've linked to it - so check that out! Much more eloquent than I could ever be!
The little details!
Pattern: Vogue 8827 ($1.99 sale pattern)
Fabric: Polyester Crepe from Spotlight ($16- pm, 3m -total: $48)
Notions: Just some thread from the stash - no closures for this pattern! Woo.
Flower Crown: tape, wire ($16-), Posy ($5-) total: $21
Total Costs: $71 - not a bad cost actually - AND I already have plans to wear it to a lovely friends 30th birthday this weekend... So its not just a frivolous dress after all!
Other bits: Shoes - wittner (linked before - no longer online).
For your perving pleasure: Heather Lou, A challenging Sew, SallieOh!
Stay tuned for any updates regarding Frocktails over on Kat's blog - all the whimsical things! And thank you to my lovely photographer - Karzi, for another impromptu snap session before running out the door for the evening!
..xx..