We've been having a bit of a technological meltdown in our house where everything electronic has been crashing. Fortunately the sewing machine has not heard about this yet and is fine (frantically touch wood). Anyway, This post is brought to you from a very old computer with pictures taken on a digital camera I bought pre-kids. It must be at least 12 years old and still going strong - are you listening modern digital SLR??
Anyway, a few months ago, I stopped in at a sale of Leona Edmiston designer dresses in the city. It wasn't the dresses I was after though. What lured me in was the fine print of the ad promising discounted offcuts of fabric. I rummaged through the offcut offerings and found a few interesting pieces that I got for $5 each. One was this black boucle. I've never sewn anything with boucle before and I changed my mind several times about what to make with it. There wasn't enough for a jacket. Then, when I got my April 2013 Burdastyle and saw this dress (No 109A), my decision was made.
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| Pattern available for download from Burda |
I managed to just squeeze the dress (size 38) from my oddly-shaped offcut. I used some black satiny fabric for the neckline to reduce bulk and provide some textural contrast. The dress is lined with bright red, lightweight cotton from some Ikea curtains I never used.
I think the dress is quite flattering and is very easy to wear. The main problem I had was that the neckline was choking me it was so tight. I was constantly pulling the dress forward so I could breathe. There's only so much I will sacrifice for fashion. Oxygen is not on that list.
After about half an hour of gasping, I whipped the dress off and made the satin part of the neckline thinner to enlarge the opening a bit. This helped, but is still not ideal. I have to be careful not to sit down too quickly. The armholes are quite low, but I quite like this and they still hide my bra (which I adjusted to a crossover back for wearing with this dress). I left out the side zip.
Overall, not perfect, not bad but certainly wearable. I'm happy enough with it for $5. The boucle is probably a bit thick for the dress to hang and flatter properly. I would recommend a thinner fabric more like the Burda example.
I wore the dress like this for the day and then with a leather jacket on into the night as I was offered a last-minute ticket to Ballet Revolucion (a predominantly male, ballet and contemporary dance group from Cuba) and didn't have time to get changed. The show was fantastic - the dancing, the bodies, the music, the bodies, the hair, did I mention the bodies. Phwoar!!
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| Ballet Revolucion - Source |
15 comments:
Very cute dress - I love the red lining and tights! What a bargain for $5 :)
That would have been a great show.
Love your dress. It doesn't look $5 worth - more like $250 worth
You look so retro cool. Am glad you bought the Boucle, I want to buy some boucle just to say my dress or skirt is made of it, seems to be a buzz word lol https://www.facebook.com/SassySewingBees
Thank you. Yes, I got a bit flashy with the red, but all good fun :)
Really? Wow, thanks - I suddenly like it a lot more now!
Ha ha yes, you are right! Boucle is definitely the thing to have. That's me, right on trend (for a change!).
That fabric was a great find - boucle is gorgeous, as is the dress.
The fabric looks fab and it's a cute design. You should have gone backstage!!
I must put boucle on my list of things to look up... I used to associate it with grannies, but that was back in the days when I associated sewing with grannies too, particularly my own. Or am I getting confused with 'boiled wool'.
Sorry to hear you have gremlins in the house!!
Thank you. Even better was that I washed it on a normal cycle and it was fine!
Ha! There's nothing 'granny' about us sewing rebels. Well, maybe it wasn't all that rebellious to hop on the boucle bandwagon with everyone else!
Your prom apparel was beautiful. You appeared marvelous that evening. But sorry to mention the night has finished and now you surprise what to accomplish with it? It really is the age of recycling. Because of this, under no circumstances just pack it within a container. Enable it to be valuable after once more. Listed below are some steps at the same time as ideas with regards to how you are able to just do that and potentially even protect the magic on the evening nevertheless endure.
Thanks for the details on this dress. I think it is really cute and I would love to make it soon.
You look absolutely great in that outfit. No way does it look like a $5 make. The red tights are really fun too.
An interesting choice of fabric for this dress which brought about an awesome result. Love that the lining is cotton Ikea curtains! You look wonderful in this!
It does look expensive!
Mary in Thailand
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