The pressure to find the perfect New Year’s Eve dress is always high. Do you go sleek and sexy, or sparkly and fun? No matter what style you love, you can never go wrong with a little black dress!
For this one, I kept the silhouette fairly simple and chose to mix it up with the details. Overall, it was a really fun make, and it’s so cute that you hardly need extra jewelry!
Fabrics & materials used:
- 2.5 yards Rag & Bone Black Poly Blend Crepe Back Satin
- 1/2 yard Black Hot Rolling Non-Woven Fusible Interfacing
- 3 yards Silver Metal Chain
The pattern was self-drafted, but I drew up some diagrams to show how it all came together.
To start, the front bodice is a 21″x13″ rectangle that I transformed into 5 box pleats (each 1.25″ wide). My model had a 34″ bust, so you may need to adjust your initial rectangle and pleat sizes if you’ll be making this yourself.
Ultimately, I ended up with a 6″x13″ rectangle with 1.25″ pleats and .25″ spaces in between. On the left and right sides, there’s also .25″ folded under; this acted as seam allowance when I sewed on the remainder of the bodice.
The bodice side panels were 10.5″ high so the pleats extend a few inches above it when sewn together. I cut out the shape below, and added in a large dart toward the front.
The skirt is very similar to a basic circle skirt, with a 6″ panel in the front to align with the bodice pleats. I drew up the shape of it below – it calls for one straight rectangle panel, and two semi-circle panels (one on each side of the rectangle).
The back closed up with a 9″ invisible zipper, and I finished up the dress with some silver metal straps. Each was hand sewn on and connected to a 4.5″ triangle on the back.
Paired with some DIY red bottom heels, and the perfect outfit is complete!
So what look are you putting together for this NYE? Is the LBD your style, or are you going metallic like our other style blogger?
What a great design! Love the structured top! I think I am gonna make this with fabric bias straps.