Tuesday 20 May 2014

The gaping hole in my wardrobe - formal wear

It dawned on me when I got home from Cabramatta that I have a wedding to dress up for in 5 weeks ... and I'll need to make something as I'm too short & busty for RTW. I've got evening wear for c1800, but nothing else formal/dressy. Well, nothing that fits!  I have a gorgeous eggplanty purple dress that I'm loath to part with as it looked great and has happy memories.

Dress code is formal/dressy, which is the monumental gap in my existing clothing and even in concepts I have thought about making.

I'm thinking of trying a couple of lekala patterns - lengthening this dress & adding a fishtail for walking - 5850 and instead of the bolero shown with it (5853) use bolero 5865 instead. However this will require the purchase of fabric, or wearing black which I really don't want to do to a wedding!

The friendship was made through costuming, & steampunk - and shared geekdom/nerdery.  So I could do something corseted and not the lekala options. Also, the couple is more my age range than my younger friends (also made through costumes and geekery).

The only other thing I can think of, is to use my Dr who corset and make a skirt & bodice/bolero to go with it. The fabric I first remembered in my stash is the shot navy/green twill which I have 2x 3m pieces- and I need to make a bolero from that fabric for my femme 8 Dr for Syd'nova anyway. I could use the same skirt pattern as the femme dr for this.

Then I remembered a gift of dark green silk dupion - I can easily could use that for a femme 8 dr style skirt, a corset + bolero and make a gauzey blouse to go with. I need the gauzey blouse as if it's too warm during the daytime I can leave the bolero off, but when it cools down in the evening I can layer up. I'd love a blingy capelet but that's not going to happen. The twill version for femme8 would let me see how the pattern works on me

I really don't want to buy fabric. OK, I'll be honest and admit that deep down I want to buy fabric but I dont' want to need to buy much yardage for this

4 comments:

  1. Hmm deep down you want to buy fabric and still you abstained?? Although the dark green silk dupion sounds lovely.

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    1. Wanting to buy fabric is my default setting ;) It's how I have 830metres and rent storage space cos I live in a shoebox (otherwise known as a 1950s studio). The dupion is gorgeous and I already have it.

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  2. It sounds like you've got some great ideas there - I can't wait to see how it turns out!

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    1. Crossing my fingers that either of the plans works out!

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