Last minute craziness: Tessuti awards dress entry

I didn't think it was going to be possible, but I managed to make a cocktail dress in 8 hours over two nights to enter in the Tessuti awards by the deadline, and it doesn't look too shabby either!

I hadn't planned on entering this year because I was lacking in inspiration and they usually get so many brilliant and creative entries from very talented people. But when I read their blog post last weekend pointing out that they had received only a few entries, I decided to make an entry after all. The only problem being that I was in Brisbane visiting the inlaws last weekend, and I didn't get a chance to buy the fabric for the dress until Monday at lunchtime (seriously, check out that receipt below). And I might have accidentally picked up two other pieces while I was there - I can never pass by the remnant table!

So on Monday and Tuesday nights, working from 8pm to midnight on both nights I managed to finish my dress, take some photos on Wednesday morning and upload them to the competition website in time for the lunchtime deadline. Unfortunately with such a rush to get it finished it meant that I had to take boring self photos in my loungeroom again instead of some fantastic location, so I think that like the last time I entered I haven't presented my creation in it's best light. Oh well, I'm still happy with it.

Of course by the time I uploaded my entry there were lots of other entries added too, including some really stunning and detailed entries. But I'm not in it to win it, in fact I'd rather get third prize - $500 worth of fabric from Tessuti sounds far more appealing than the first prize of a $2500 travel voucher at this point in time (travel with two small children is just not fun!).

The competition called for a knee length cocktail dress, using either a specific black or red fabric from their store. I was going to sew a simple fitted sheath dress with a deep cowl on the back neckline using Simplicity 9218, now OOP, which is exactly the type of dress I would wear to a fancy soiree. But this is a design competition afterall that will be judged on design and creativity as well as fit and technical skill, so I thought that I should try a little harder to make some different. But not so different that I wouldn't wear the end product though.

So in the end I decided I wanted something with a bit of volume using pleats and darts and tucks because the fabric has a bit of stiffness to it and I thought a dress with structure would work better than trying to get it to drape.  My dress is a combination of the bodice from a vintage 1975 Simplicity pattern that I've been wanting to sew for a while, the pleated skirt from Burda 8/09 #128 (not online unfortunately) which is one of my favourite dresses of all time and some self drafted cap sleeves.


The triangular waist panel looks a bit Wonderwoman-ish, but unfortunately my chestal region lacks Wonderwoman's impressive assets so the top is a little puffy and the keyhole opening at the front is not so va-va-voom.

At the back I used an invisible zip, and made a keyhole opening at the neckline - not only does this echo the front of the dress, but it also solves the problem of those rounded edges I always seem to get at the top of invisible zips:

 

I managed to get a very good fit at the back and I lined up the waistline panels at the sides and the centre back too. I also added a vent at the centre back to make walking in this dress possible, the original Burda pattern doesn't have one and it's so difficult to take proper walking length steps when wearing it!

I just love those waistline pleats. It seems counter intuitive that extra fabric at the waistline would be flattering, but somehow the angles of the pleats gives the skirt volume but not bulk, and they fall gracefully from the cinched in waistline so it is a flattering silhouette:

The sleeves turned out a bit more puffy than I wanted, I feel a bit like an American footballer with the exaggerated shoulder armour! I guess that's what happens when you self draft something and don't have time to muslin test them first....



If I had allowed myself enough time to make this properly I might have added some piping around the midriff band and possibly the neckline, but I think it has turned out alright for a spur of the moment, spontaneous project. I didn't prewash the fabric either, not having the time, so fingers crossed it doesn't shrink too much because it's already a very close fitting dress!

And now for a bit of a rest before I get back to my regular sewing. Although this demonstrates why I can never commit to SWAPs or capsule collections - something always comes up and I it seems I like sewing on a whim best!