Phew! After an intense week of sewing, the prom dress is finished and although I'm happy (and relieved), most importantly my daughter loves it. (She looks amazing, by the way).
The whole process started a couple of months ago. M found the perfect dress, but ordering clothes online is always a risk, so I said we could make a dress, we just needed to find a sewing pattern that was similar. (What was I thinking!).
We eventually found a pattern and I spent some time planning, and watched some online tutorials - having never sewn a bodice before. I was determined that I didn’t want to fit an ‘invisible’ zip (because I didn’t think it would be invisible) and, actually, M wanted a laced back so I just had to figure out how to do that instead.
The most important step turned out to be getting the fit of the bodice right. I ended up making four or five iterations but I think it made all the difference.
The fabric we found was lovely to work with and, along with a thick cotton lining, the bodice held it’s shape really well. The hem turned out to be the worst - mostly because I didn’t want the stitches to show. I wasn’t sewing it on the way to the prom, but it wasn’t far off!
Honestly, I’m not even sure how it turned out so well. I still look at it and wonder that I actually made it. Nothing like a deadline to focus the attention eh?
And if you ask me if I like sewing, I’d probably say… not really. It’s just a skill I use when I have a particular task that requires sewing to complete it. Weird, huh?!
Links
Corset Academy - I actually signed up for the free trial at the Corset Academy. If I was going to do this kind of dress making regularly I would think about signing up. The information about fitting the bodice really was invaluable. corsetacademy.net
I also have to thank Sam at Emm’s Haberdashery who recommended that I make the ribbon for the back of the dress. He was right. Thank you Sam :) Instagram/emmshaberdashery/
Pattern: New Look 6454
