This is my last quicky wedding wear costume to blog about. I saved this one for last because it is my least favorite dress. I thought the colors would blend together, but, they really didn’t. There are components of it that I really like, so I think it is worth describing, but it just didn’t “click”. The dress is the first one on the left. The dress is worn over the blouse that the cast member wore with her Villager outfit.
The dress began with a very simple, off-white street length dress. The dress is strapless and I added simple straps made of twill tape. I did not have to do any adjustments to the fit of the bodice.
I selected a few “add-ons” that I thought would work, which included a ruffled lace curtain and a striped bedskirt. The curtains were the old-fashioned country curtain look where the panels are triangular-ish.
I used two curtain panels and had the shorter sides meet in the center front, with the longer sides at center back. The curtains were divided into equal sections and pinned to the dress accordingly and squish gathered in between the sections. The gathers were topstitched with a large zig-zag to secure them to the base dress.
Next I added a strip of the bedskirt to the bottom. I didn’t gather this, just sewed it on straight. I wasn’t happy with how the fabrics looked at the seam, and so I added a row of pleated trim (scavenged from a comforter cover).
In retrospect, I really do not care for how this looks. The ruffle had an almost green-tint and just does not blend with the other fabrics. I also think the bottom layer was just a bit too dark. It looks like a dress with a piece sewn on the bottom. I had another set of lace curtains, so I might have been able to do something with that.
The bodice of the dress is embellished with mock lacing. The ribbon is a cream ribbon with gold metallic accents. It does not contrast enough with the bodice to show on stage.
The finished dress:
With the blouse underneath:
Trying on the shoe:
Another view:
There are things I like about this costume. I think using the blouse underneath worked well. I like the shaped curtains as an overskirt. Things that could have been improved are the lacing and the bottom layer. It is tolerable in this setting, but, I don’t think anyone would use it as a stand-alone costume.