Construction Details:

The dress comes in two pieces: a top and a skirt, with a 3 hoop skirt underneath. The skirt is made entirely of black casa satin. The top is made of satin and mustard yellow sateen cotton with a slight stretch to it. The stretch is only slight so I didn't have as much difficulty sewing the satin to it as I thought I would.

I used a total of three different patterns for this costume: one for the skirt and the majority of the top, and two for the sleeves. I had to redo the sleeves twice since the first time didn't come out poofy enough for my taste. The front bodice was modified since the pattern originally called for the top to open in the front. An invisible zipper closes the top in the back. I scallop stitched the sleeves and the top skirt to give the gown a little pop.

It took me a whole day to figure out how do the top skirt. I wanted originally to make it two layered, with the casa satin lining the sateen. That did work out since the sateen has just enough stretch to screw it all up. I ended up with the method I knew would work but the one I didn't want to use: making a wide bias trim and sewing it on. The underside of the bias trim is handstitched since I didn't want anything but the scallop stitch to show.

The embellishments are made from brass and glass cabochons glued to pin backs. Two black ribbons - one satin and the other grosgrain - are handstitched, ruffled, and the flared out around the cabochon. The bow on the back of the top is made by a length of satin folded over and then sewn/snapped to the back.

All the roses are handmade by winding and twirling ribbon. The wig came styled as is so there was little to do with that.

Personal Thoughts:

Hm...what to say about this? Well, first of all, it made me realize that I do not want to make another ballgown for a very, very long time. It also made me realize how long it's been since I made a proper kimono. Yeah, weird I know.

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