Sunday, October 23, 2011

Frocked up

Ok it's not a frock, but it IS frocked up.  This is a sneak peak at the bottom half of my ball outfit.  It is made from beautiful embroidered taffeta silk that I bought on-line for $15 a metre. I bought it on a whim with no particular expectation or project in mind. I remember the elation I felt on opening the package - it was so much more beautiful than the e-shop picture.

When I started thinking about my ball outfit my thoughts went immediately to Allesandra Rich and her beautiful, structured lace and silk dresses. But looking on net-a-porter, I saw a beautiful $1000 + fishtail skirt and I knew immediately that this was a practical solution.  I haven't been to a ball since I was 25 and I'm not likely to go to many more, so investing in good lace was not very sensible.

I used Burda 12/2008 125 as my base pattern.  This is a double fronted evening skirt with a fishtail hem.  To redraft as a plain skirt, all I needed to do was to make the centre-front line a centre-fold on both the skirt and the waist band and voila!  You'll have to wait until after November 12 for wearing photos, but it is a very good fit.  The next photo shows the embroidery in more detail and the degree of pattern matching I was able to achieve. No mean feat with only 2 metres of fabric.  I'm yet to complete the hem - still deciding if I need horsehair stiffening or just stiff interfacing to accentuate the fishtail.

The last photo shows you where I'm going with the top half.

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12 comments:

  1. Marie-NoëlleOctober 23, 2011 at 9:25 AM

    Stunning fabric !!!!

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  2. JuliaOctober 23, 2011 at 2:54 PM

    Gorgeous fabric!!!

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  3. EugeniaOctober 23, 2011 at 3:22 PM

    That fabric certainly is beautiful - you can't fail to look glamorous in something made from that!

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  4. IreneOctober 23, 2011 at 5:45 PM

    Spectacular! You'll definitely be the belle of the ball in this outfit.

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  5. ShellyOctober 23, 2011 at 6:17 PM

    Beautiful fabric! You sure will look glamorous at the ball wearing this. Can't wait to see the final outfit.

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  6. Anne-MarieOctober 23, 2011 at 7:22 PM

    What do you mean we have to wait until November 12... no waiting, we want it now !!! LOL ;-))) It looks wonderful. I am searching in Burda's archives to find the pattern and I just cannot find the # 125 ... still searching. It will keep me busy until I can see the picture of this fabulous outfit.

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  7. CarolynOctober 24, 2011 at 12:54 AM

    Lovely fabric... ! and I can't wait to see your interpretation of that Pattern Magic design...

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  8. BeckyOctober 24, 2011 at 8:18 PM

    It looked interesting in the full-yardage shot. But in that close-up where you can really see the embroidery, it's simply stunning!

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  9. kbencoOctober 26, 2011 at 3:32 AM

    Oh that fabric looks wonderful. I hope it goes smoothly.

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  10. jacquieOctober 26, 2011 at 4:00 AM

    Gorgeous fabric Gail and I can't wait to see the whole outfit.

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  11. JeanOctober 29, 2011 at 8:05 AM

    Exciting! I love fishtail hems -- can't wait to see the finished gown. The fabric is stunning.

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  12. SewingadictaOctober 29, 2011 at 1:39 PM

    Oh! Wow! That fabric is really spectacular! No wonder you felt an immense joy .... I am anxious to see photos of the finished project.

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