Black Flower Silk Dress

Or my most expensive dress so far.

I was eyeing this pattern since this spring, which I saw for the first time at Marie in the cave. I really liked the strict image of the dress and the large skirt. However, I ventured to do a few modifications.

Apart from the usual fitting issues, shortening the bust and straightening the shoulder area, I also shortened the sleeves and changed completely the skirt (as Marie did). The original pattern wanted a straight skirt, which is not particularly my favourite. I changed it to my usual semi-circle one.

 

I was hesitating to sew this dress for a long time since I wanted to have it with the perfect fabric. Finally I found the right fabric – black crepe de chine with little flowers, but for a full price. I have bought 3 meters of fabric and fortunately I did so. The fabric seems quite fine and semi-transparent. In the end, I doubled the skirt with the fashion fabric and lined the body with black cotton-silk.

It was kind of interesting and changed from my usual sewing habits to sew the standing collar, as well as the button strip.  I am getting used to sewing with silk so the slippery fabric is no longer a surprise for me, I would even say that I am having a certain pleasure with this challenge. A nice final (or more first) touch was sewing the pintucks, even though they are not very visible on the dress.

I have made a big mistake when attaching the front body parts and made the man opening instead of the female one. Oh well…. It happened.

Inspiration: Marie in the cave

Pattern: Burda 109-01/2010

Pattern changes: waist adjustment, shortening body part, semi-circle skirt

Technique: pintucks, stand collar

Fabric: black flower silk + black cotton-silk as lining

Time to Complete: 2 weeks

Total Cost: 80 EUR

First Worn: November 2014