My Mood Fabrics colleague Deirdre modeling the party dress I made recently for my daughter.
It’s party dress season! Moms who sew are very popular this time of year with daughters who appreciate having one-of-a-kind dresses, right?!
My own daughter* needed a dress for her college sorority formal and another dress to wear to her boyfriend’s fraternity formal. For one of the parties I suggested the new Georgia dress pattern from By Hand London. I thought the view with the wide bands was really cute and flattering, and my daughter agreed. (Note that her agreeing with me right off the bat is very major in and of itself, so good job, By Hand London girls!)
Readers, the key to this dress pattern is choosing a woven fabric with lots of crosswise stretch. This is a bodycon pattern. I used a navy stretch viscose from Mood Fabrics NYC—it looks and sews like a woven but it hugs the body almost like a pair of Spanx. [Note: We’re all out of the fabric I used but we have similar stretch viscose fabrics at Mood NYC (1-212-730-5003). Online at MoodFabrics.com, we have loads of woven fabrics with Lycra—it just depends on what you want to use as your fashion fabric. Here’s a brocade with Lycra I can see working for this pattern.]
To add a little holiday bling and draw attention to the attractive bodice area, I outlined the straps with a rhinestone trim suggested by Mood’s wonderful trim department (thank you, Stephany and Noel!).
The straps are lined in some leftover metallic silver brocade I had in my stash. It’s a very subtle touch that adds some understated elegance to the dress.
Other construction notes:
– Omitted the zipper, which you can do only if you’re using a stretchy fabric like this and the wearer doesn’t mind slithering into dresses.
– Added boning to the bodice seams. The pattern instructions don’t call for boning but I recommend it and other makers of this pattern have added boning as well. Gets a little floppy without it.
– Lined the bodice with navy stretch rayon lining.
– Pressed this viscose fabric carefully, because it scorches and if you press too hard/long you get seam show-through.
My daughter loved this dress and it got a lot of compliments from her sorority sisters. Coming soon on the Mood Sewciety blog is the other party dress I speed-sewed during the Thanksgiving weekend. Sewing two party dresses in five days is not for the faint of heart.
*Normally I’d show my daughter modeling this dress but the lighting at my house for photography is not good at all. So I brought this dress and the other party dress I made to the office and used homemade cookies to bribe my coworker Deirdre into modeling for me. It worked!
11 comments
This looks gorgeous on Deidre! I bet your daughter loved it! And two dresses in five days?! Girl, you’re a superwoman!
Lovely! Navy is a great choice for the holidays. Your daughter is super lucky to have you!
That is an absolutely gorgeous dress. Beautiful.
Gorgeous dress and love the trim!
Love love love it. So does my D1. Huge feat to say the least!
I loved “slithering” I had to laugh out loud…..
Will try this pattern in the spring…..for D1 that is.
Looking forward to the next dress Meg!
Your D1 is petite, right? Deirdre is 5’1″, if that gives you a frame of reference.
I love the Georgia Dress, both versions. I like the trim you have chosen to add to the side shoulder straps – a great idea that I just might need to copy. Perfect dress.
Such a lovely dress, Meg – no wonder your daughter was so happy with it! (and yeah, like Ginger said, superwoman for getting 2 dresses in 5 days done!)
What an awesome dress! I love the addition of the trim. Wow, 2 dresses in 5 days is crazy!
[…] I said in my previous post, sewing two party dresses in five days is crazy, But you know, the things we do for our family. As […]
These designs are so Pretty!!! I like the softness of the colors and the stacked party dress is really cool!!! Have a Blessed Day!