designer inspo

I’m back! Already! Miss me? 😉

I love this time of year for “fancy dress season” reasons. As you may have guessed, I kept my tradition going and made yet another fancy thing for my office holiday party. Yay!

This year I went a somewhat stereotypical “holiday dress” route: velvet. Much like florals for spring, it’s hardly groundbreaking. 😉 I also decided early on to jump into Linda’s Designin’ December challenge once again, as I found an amazing inspiration dress a few years ago and couldn’t get it out of my head.

Image property of Linda @ Nice Dress! Thanks, I made it!!

Here’s my inspiration dress, which was part of Elie Saab’s Fall 2014 RTW collection:

Photo property of Vogue and/or their credited photographer(s)

Like I said, I first saw this a couple of years ago and it’s been in my head ever since! I knew I didn’t want to copy the exact style of the original dress, but 100% loved the draping, the color of the velvet, and the ombre effect. I found my dark teal poly/lycra stretch velvet at Fashion Fabrics Club and planned to dye the dress from the hem to the waist in a navy ombre; however, I couldn’t get the velvet to take the dye I bought (which was for synthetics). 😦 While I’m happy enough with the dress in one color, I definitely would have preferred it with the gradient effect that I envisioned!

Full-length shot

The pattern I (mostly) used is Burda 05/2012 #133. (Julia Bobbin also made this pattern and she looked fierce!) I did make some changes, as follows:

Adjusted the neckline: The pattern photos on Burda’s site are somewhat deceptive, as my mock-up per the pattern didn’t drop the back neckline as low as theirs. Then again, I kept my material on the straight grain rather than bias for the stretch factor. Anyway, I was determined to drop the back much lower. But after reworking the back bodice and starting from scratch using my moulage, it just wasn’t coming out how I envisioned. (To get the effect I was after, I’d most likely need to drape the dress onto a form.) In a last-ditch effort to get something with a little more “oomph” than the original design, I added an additional cowl extension to the Burda bodice that originated at the outermost edge of the shoulder; this dropped the shoulders to the off-the-shoulder position you see in these photos as well as added some additional “swag” draping to the back.
Redesigned the shape of the bodice: The pattern bodice has a blouson effect, but I wanted things to be snug. (Not least of all because it would help the bodice stay up without the shoulders for support.) In the end I still could have taken a bit more out, but I had re-sewn it a few times (and had unpicked the waist once–that was not happening again!) and decided it was good enough. Plus I still had to be able to get into it with no zipper!!
Redesigned the skirt: tiny pleats, in velvet, over my stomach? No thank you! Instead, I used the skirt pieces but eliminated the pleats and darts, and simply took the waist in until it was tight enough. I also lengthened the skirt to a midi (it’s now 34″ long, I think?) and added high splits to the sides. Originally I wasn’t sure about that last part, but when the back wasn’t dropping as low as I wanted they became necessary for some sex appeal.
Omitted the zipper: Apart from being unnecessary with the stretch velvet, I wasn’t about the wrangle that sewing task on top of everything else! Just thinking about putting a zipper in this fabric gives me the willies…
Omitted the ribbons: Even if I had kept the shoulders of the original design, I wasn’t about the have ribbons flapping around. Ick.
Omitted the lining: Originally this was not my plan. But because I wanted the bodice tight and had zero-to-negative ease at the waist and no zipper, my lining fabric (silk jersey!!) wouldn’t have lent itself well to that choice. Self-lining was right out, because this fabric gets thick. So no lining.

The best shot of the back I have–it wouldn’t cooperate so well on “official photo” day!

The best available setting at the party…womp womp.

There’s clear elastic in the waist seam to help stabilize it. The bodice is still a bit long, due to the vertical stretch and weight/length of the skirt though. But doing that did help a lot! The hem and side splits are all hand-sewn, since visible stitching felt too casual for this dress.

The more eagle-eyed among you probably noticed an issue with the dress in the above full-length photos…I crushed the pile along the hem. 😦 I used a towel under the fabric when pressing, but it didn’t prevent tell-tale iron-shaped spots allllllllll along the hem. (Interestingly, I don’t appear to have done any damage with my first pass, in which the iron was laid parallel to the hem rather than perpendicular.) I was gutted when I noticed this, as you might imagine. I tried every available trick to un-crush the pile but nothing helped (just as the internet warned). The only good thing about this disaster is that it’s on the very bottom of the dress, which I doubt anyone paid as much attention to as the top! #smallmiracles

So that’s 2018’s holiday dress sorted! It wasn’t quite what I imagined but that happens, doesn’t it? I haven’t even started plotting for next year’s dress–who knows what I’ll end up with!

This ended up being my last project of 2018, so my next post will be a Top 5 post (Hits, Misses, and Highlights). See you there!

Special thanks to Linda for coordinating and hosting Designin’ December once again–it’s a pleasure to share alongside so many creative and inspiring pieces in that sewalong. ❤

Helloooooooooooo!

Here I am, having made yet another stupid formal thing for a not-nearly-that-formal work party. 😉 As per usual, it was quite a journey from starting the project to the night of my party, but overall I’m pretty pleased with how it came together. I’ve got a lot to say about this project, not just because things got a little fuck-y, but because IT’S THREE SEPARATE PIECES. So I’ve decided to do a 3-part series: the first installment will cover the big debut of my Lady Tux and my inspiration; Part 2 will cover the jacket; Part 3 will cover the camisole and trousers.

I am also tossing this thing into the ring for Designin’ December, after not playing along last year but finding very definite designer inspo for my 2017 look(s). 😀

Inspiration

So how did I end up with a Lady Tux? Honestly, it took me some time to figure that out. My biggest issue this year was what type of “Thing” to make. After last year, where I had a very firm idea of what I wanted that was carried over from the prior year, 2017’s outfit was a bit of a second-guess fest. I waffled about what to make starting immediately after last year’s event! Aside from the tuxedo look, I also considered these ideas:

Vogue 9253; image is property of BMV Patterns

“The Dress” from Atonement in all its glory! (Image not mine.)

I had fabrics suitable for both looks, but ultimately decided against them. (I was afraid the Vogue pattern would look too much like a robe or caftan in my black and ivory shibori-dyed crepe-back satin fabric, and couldn’t decide how best to approach the Atonement dress from a pattern starting point.) I had the tux fabrics as well–bought with that intention in mind–and decided I might as well make that for my party! All I had to do was decide on what I wanted it to look like and how to style it–you know, little stuff. 😉 My main inspirations were these two outfits:

Amazingness! (Image not mine.)

I mean, COME ON! (Image not mine.)

That is Evan Rachel Wood in Altuzarra at the 2017 Golden Globes, and Gwyneth Paltrow in Balmain at the 2008 UK premiere of Iron Man. (Honorable mention: Octavia Spencer at the 2017 Golden Globes–her navy tux was fabulous as well!) ERW wore tons of tuxedos for events recently, and I was very inspired by just about all of them. And Gwyneth’s 2008 Iron Man premiere outfit is still one of her best-ever looks, IMO–I remember seeing coverage of that outfit at the time and haven’t forgotten it. (Or those fabulous square-toed satin McQueen pumps, because goddamn.) I made this Pinterest board so you all can see more of the looks I was inspired by while I was planning out this thing!

Lady Tux: The Big Reveal

So okay, I wanted a tux. But what would it look like? That was the hard part. In the end, I decided on slim-but-straight trousers with front slash pockets and “racing stripes,” a jacket with a peaked lapel that was single-breasted with one button and which would fall below my high hip, and a lace camisole for underneath (my nod to the Paltrow outfit, basically). I’ll have more detail on all of these things in the next posts!

I used 3 patterns for this outfit: 1 for each piece. The jacket is a Burda pattern that was originally in a magazine but is now available for download: #127B 11/2012. Originally I was hoping for something less shaped and slightly more “boyfriend” in the cut, but there doesn’t appear to be a pattern in existence that fulfills my wants! 😉 This was close enough, especially since it came with jetted pockets and a peaked lapel AND was longer, which I really wanted; I was willing to endure a more feminine cut for those things. The trousers are the pants portion of V9160, aka The Jumpsuit of My Dreams That Wasn’t. Here is where I made a mistake, but more on that later. The camisole is the much-loved Ogden Cami by True Bias.

And as you saw in my teaser photo above, those three pieces came together to make THIS ridiculousness:

I won’t go into construction details of each piece here–that’s what Parts 2 and 3 are for–but I’ll share my general impressions with you now.

You can see the Altuzarra inspo in the lapels, which are peaked and done in a contrasting satin-finish fabric, and in the pockets, jacket length, and single-button configuration; my trousers also have the trademark “tuxedo stripe” down the side seams. I didn’t make my trousers wide or flared though, and obviously the styling is a bit different. The Paltrow outfit inspiration is less direct than how I interpreted the tux, since it’s a dress! But I think it looks like I was inspired by that dress, even if I didn’t make the same kind of outfit.

Overall, I’m basically happy with this outfit. I wouldn’t want another sewer to look too closely at any piece of it though–it’s definitely not my best work. I do think I achieved the “look” I was going for: it’s feminine-ish, but very much has that masculine edge because it’s a tux. One of my co-workers commented thusly: “Girl, you are cold-blooded. For real!!” That made me feel like a fucking badass, you guys! (Especially since that co-worker was wearing a totally amazing sequined dress and is enviably tall and gorgeous.) I will say this: I’m not 100% happy with this outfit as a representation of my work, but it does show well. 😉

Here are some shots from the party: