Sewing Fever

I'm just recovering from one of the best weddings EVER, which I attended yesterday. The lovely couple - Heidi Heelz and Johhny Cola - are incredibly cool, as you can see in the photo below:

Of course, a suitably cool outfit was needed for the occasion. For once, I didn't think I would need to make a new ensemble as I have more than enough dresses which have hardly been worn and were glam enough for the big day. Or so I thought...

3 days before the event, I was doing some tidying up around the house, which mostly involved organising my messy stash of fabrics. You know that thing you do, when you wrap a length of fabric around your body and pose in the mirror? (Admit it, I can't be the only one who does this...) When I came across this forgotten gem, that's exactly what I did:

 It's hard to see in the photo, but it's a black stretch velvet, probably polyester, with gold and bronze glitter sprays applied to the surface. I picked it up at Abakhans at least 2 years ago and have looked at it from time to time, but had no idea what to do with it. Until now...

So out went the plan to wear a dress I already had, and suddenly I was pinning and draping and looking through my stash for some firm waistband fabric, a zip, and buttons. I really liked the way it looked when I just held it around my waist, and I wanted to capture that in the finished piece. I'm not vey experienced with knits, and don't own an overlocker/serger, but I figured the stretch qualities of the fabric would mean I wouldn't need as many structural seams and darts and could just fold it and pleat it into the waistband. 

I also had a bit of a Joan Collins, 1980's does the 1940's thing in mind. Cue gratuitous Joan photo:

And here's what I came up with:

I wore: blouse - secondhand, probably 1980's; velvet skirt - made by me; back seamed hold-ups - M&S; shoes - Terry de Havilland

The Autumn light makes it hard to see - the skirt is a long column with just one off-centre seam on the left front, which extends into a draped ruffle-thing (special technical term). So I could walk, and to add some Joan-style sexiness, I left the seam open to the thigh.

Close-up of the ruffle

I placed the zip behind the ruffle, and also added 2 buttons to the waistband, which was some firm cotton drill I had in my stash:

Instead of waistband darts, I just pleated the fabic at each side of the waist:

Was it finished in time? Well... luckily, we were invited to the reception, which started at 5.00, but I was sewing on the buttons and trimming the seams at 12.00!

And here are some action shots - I think I'm dancing to Michael Jackson or 'The Look of Love' by ABC:

Needless to say, it was a great evening, with tears of joy and much laughter. Here's to the happy couple!

See you soon!