Velvet Vintage Dress - BurdaStyle 05/2012 #133

The Dress

When I first fell in love with sewing, vintage dresses from the 60's were my thing.
I loved the silhouettes and the drama of those well thought out garments. The styles emphasised proportion and conveyed subtle but undeniable sexiness.

Fast forward through my sewing journey, my style has inevitably evolved and developed as I have learnt more about my shape and my tastes. With the help of modern influences I have been able to find a balance between what I like to wear as well as what actually looks good on me.

This new dress is a perfect example of what I like: A little bit vintage, a little bit modern, a little bit fancy and a little bit sexy.

The Pattern

When I first saw this BurdaStyle patten, I knew I had to make it.
The dramatic back draping in velvet was just the sort of eye-catching vintage that I love.

I made the bodice of BurdaStyle #133 from 05/2012 issue but not the attached skirt. The pattern had box pleats at the waist of the skirt and I just knew that the velvet fabric manipulated into box pleats would look bulky and unflattering on my curves.

Image curtesy of BurdaStyle

Instead, I followed Mimi G's 'DIY pencil skirt' tutorial on Youtube; I have a similar shape to Mimi from waist down. The tutorial was easy and quick and resulted in what I think is a more flattering shape for my figure.

Fabric used

I found this gorgeous stretch velvet fabric from GJ's in the most beautiful wine-red.
I love how the light picks up different tones of the colour and the fabric feels lush and firm to touch.

The bodice is lined in the same velvet and the skirt I left unlined.

Pattern Changes

I omitted the petersham-ribbon bows on the shoulders as I felt the silhouette and the fabric colour were enough of a statement without the embellishments.

I replaced the BurdaStyle skirt with a DIY pencil skirt and didn't elasticise the waist. The Mimi G tutorial had you add a band of elastic to pull the waist in. I may potentially add this in later as extra reinforcement for the waistline.

Because the bodice is quite loose and the fabric has a fair amount of stretch, I decided to remove the side zipper, which could potentially look messy and bulky in this thick stretch fabric. The dress is easy to pull on over my head.

The drape on the front and back bodice are held into place with little pleats at the shoulders, which I hand-stitched together. Being able to pin and hand-sew the shoulders together made it much easier to control the drape and minimise bulk.

Love

That draping though!

The full low back drape, mixed with the subtle drape on the high neck front is just everything I love in an evening dress.

The pleats on the shoulders with the wide neckline give great proportion to the dress and the cut and fit is emphasised so well in this rich, stretchy velvet.

Conclusion

All dressed up and nowhere to go!

I have a habit of making evening dresses without an occasion to wear them, and I'm not fighting it any more!

I get such joy in making these dresses, potentially more than I even get wearing them. In any case, I think I might have to invent an excuse to wear it. A dinner party perhaps, or maybe just a trip to the grocery store. Sometimes a girl just wants to get glam for a bag of potatoes, k?!

Occasion aside, I'm very happy with how the dress turned out, and glad to have a new vintage-inspired dress in my wardrobe.