Semi-formal Dress

I meant to post this long time ago hoping that we will have a better photograph.  Never happened so far.  So, here it is.

DD2 requested a semi-formal outfit consisting of a black dress with plunging back and halter neck and a chiffon coverup.  We decided to start with the dress.  Luckily, I had Vogue pattern 2772 in my pattern stash.  It is a floor length fitted dress with plunging back and pleated front bodice by Donna Karan.  The only thing I needed to change was: shorten the skirt considerably and remove the pleats in the front.  Simple enough...

The small pattern piece looks like a piece of trash because it got mixed up with scrap and got crumpled up.  Luckily, I saved it before too late.  

I was able to combine lower skirt pieces with corresponding upper body pieces which resulted in three pattern pieces only.  In order to remove the right front pleats which becomes the halter neck when extended beyond the shoulder, I used the unpleated left front and tilted it towards center front line in order to remove the excess fabric incorporated in pleating.  Lucky for me, my modification worked well on my daughter.  Really some luck.  

In order to keep the upper bodice in place, we decided to use wide black chiffon ribbons attached to the upper edge of the front bodice.  They add a drama to the outfit.  

For the coverup, we used Vogue 7742 View E, shortened so that it is just a little bit longer than the dress, and the front edges were modified to a smooth line from the top of the neckline to the center waist.  

DD2 was happy with the results, except for ...

The snowy weather on the day of the event.  All the girls were shivering in dresses.  

While, parents were in winter coats ...

She and her girl friends, several of them, had a great time I hear.  They went as a group of girls without male escorts.  They thought they do not need boys to have fun.  

  

Plaid dress with Burda Style 118

I have been working on a dress for some time after finishing Christine Jonson Pencil and Slit Skirts early this year.  I am hopeful that my sewing mojo is returning.

Fabric:  I have had this piece of black and white wool plaid for more than thirty years.  I visited this fabric just about every year contemplating what it could become, but I could not come up with any great ideas until this year.  What is more, since it sat among my stash so long that it acquired two moth holes which I rewove to fill in with difficulty.  The yarn of the fabric has small nubs and they got caught here and there, giving me such a hard time reweaving.  At any rate, the moth holes were fixed tentatively. 

The pattern:  This is the dress.  Actually, I never thought this fabric can become a dress.  That was until I saw a photo of a Vivien Westwood tartan dress.  It so happened some bloggers had already thought of this and my search provided me with this Burda Style dress.  My fabric is probably a bit too bulky for the dress, but it is unlikely that I will encounter a better alternative.  So, that was that. 

Tinkering:  Although the Burda dress has bias cut front, the back and the sleeves are not in bias.  I decided to cut all parts in bias, except the back facing and the lining.  The back pattern piece has a curved center back seam and a zipper is supposed to be installed there.  Fearing the difficulty of matching plaid on the back and the lack of yardage (I have about 2 yards plus a bit), I decided to cut the back in one piece, and re-drew the center back seam as a straight line, which meant I had to move the zipper to the right side seam.  The lining pattern for the front is also prepared.

All these pattern preps were done over two weekends.  The fashion fabric was also cut out, except for the back facing.  In the above photos, the left front drape is gathered up and pinned to back dress on my dress form.  Looking at the back, it seems that the bias fabric has taken care of the form shaping and there is no need to add darts per pattern.  I am letting the fabric to settle before I serge the edges and sew up the dress. 

Cannot wait for the next weekend!