FO: Hen Party Salsa Dress

This weekend was spent away for the Hen Party of a good friend of mine. As part of the celebrations, we went salsa dancing. We were instructed to dress in red, orange or pink and I was surprised to find that I had nothing suitable in any of these colours already in my wardrobe. The solution? Make one! Here is what I came up with...

The pattern: New Look 6557 View B

The fabric and notions: ~2 metres of red light cotton and 1 1/2 metres of black lining, both £3/metre from Leicester market, ~3 metres of black lace trim and a 14" zipper. Due to the bargainous fabric this dress comes in at just over £10 in total which convinced me I had made the right descision to make something rather than buy a new dress! 

      

Any adjustments to the pattern? This dress was made rather last minute, so I chose a pattern that I have used before (see here) so I knew it fit and didn't need to make a muslin. The only change I did make was to shorten the hem and lining by about 3 inches.

The details? For me, the beauty of this dress is all about the details. Believe it or not, this is the first ever garment I have made from fabric in a solid colour rather than a print! This gave me the chance to play around with applique and other details. I added lace trim to the outer straps and the hem to fit in with the Latin theme. I was very lucky here as the lace was from my stash and I had only just enough...I think I made it round the hem with literally a cm to spare! I also appliqued a flower onto the skirt which I think gives the dress a lovely slightly 50s vibe.



Close up of the lace trimming and applique

 
Would I make this again, and if so what changes would I make? Definitely! This pattern is quick to sew up and I have the fit almost spot on. It's still a tiny bit loose (and low!) across the chest so I think if I made it again I would make some alterations to the bodice. I would also love to try some of the other bodice variations. One other thing I would change is the use of interfacing. I decided it would be a good idea to interface the midriff band to add structure, but as this dress is fully lined I don't think this was actually necessary. Also I made the slight error of using white interfacing...this + lights in the club = glowing white midriff...not a good look! In future I would probably leave out the interfacing...or use black instead!!

All in all I was very pleased with this dress...it is fun, comfortable and I will be wearing it again!

I hope you all had a great weekend...I'm off to catch up on some sleep!

K xx