The dresses I have been working on previously have been for the chorus members who are in the opening of the ball (the “Gavotte”) and the middle (the “Ridicule”).  This dress is for one of the dancers who will be dancing the “Cinderella Waltz” and the “Ten Minutes Ago Reprise”.   I am dressing this group in pastels, with fuller skirts and hopefully some swingy layers that will show as they twirl.

This costume started with a vintage Prom dress.

It has two layers of white overskirt, pale yellow floral sequins on the bodice, and a sash of a slightly darker yellow, that I neglected to put on for the picture.  It also has white straps.  The back looks pretty much like the front.

I wanted to bring out the yellow as Cinderella is wearing a white dress.

I paired this with a second pale yellow dress:

This dress has a wrap front, beading on the band at the top, and a two layer sequined underskirt.  The sequins are at an angle where the underskirt is exposed.  This dress had a full underskirt.  Some dresses of this style only have a mock underskirt in the front.

I began by cutting the underskirt off of this dress.  I pinned it to Dress #1 under the layers of white, and stitched it in place.  I turned it sideways so the sequins were centered on the front.

This gave the dress less of a bright white look, but wasn’t as yellow as I wanted.  I thought I could use the overdress.  I intended to stitch it to the waistline, so I cut it off, using the bodice lining as a pattern.

I draped it in various ways on the dress and was less than impressed with how it looked.  I found some brighter  yellow organza that had been donated, and also some brighter yellow lace.  I like the brighter yellow, but didn’t have a great inspiration.  I wished that I had cut the drape higher on the bodice to get the pleats that were on the side.  My solution was to go to bed and sleep on it.

The next day I decided to start from the bottom and work my way up.  I stitched string sequins around the bottom of the white layers.

I added a 6″ row of pleated yellow organza around the innermost lining.  Unfortunately, that layer was actually shorter than all of the rest so it didn’t show.  I should have checked before I started.  I added another row on the yellow underskirt.

I really love the way these layers look.  I pulled the top layer up in 6 places to give more visual interest.

I picked up the drape I had cut off earlier, and ended up just dividing the piece in half and sewing it on in a loose sleeve.  The dress is shown over a hoop.

I have a volunteer who will make some sort of bows for the pulled up areas.

Cost:  the white & yellow dress was donated, the second yellow dress was $10.  The organza was donated, and the sequins were just a small part of a large roll, probably less than $1.

I ended up really liking this dress.  I love the way the layers move.  I really like the way the ruffles look.   This definitely was not my first choice of dress style, but now I wish I had a few more of them!

Bows made by my volunteer: