Brocade Dress

I wore this dress to a wedding in Philadelphia back in May. My husband’s cousin got married, and I needed a dress that looked formal yet allowed me to dance the night away at the reception. I purchased this beautiful blue and gold brocade from Mood and made Vogue 9252, a high-low dress with a lined bodice and in-seam pockets.

The brocade is just stunning in person. There is a slight 3D crinkle texture that is visible in a few of the photos I am posting. It also has a very soft, flowing drape, so I interlined both the bodice and skirt with silk organza to give the dress more structure and volume. The wrong side of the brocade is just as beautiful as the face, so a matching blue silk organza seemed like the perfect choice for interlining because it allows some of the wrong side of the fabric to be visible at the hemline. The bodice is lined with silk crepe de chine, and now, I want all my clothes to be lined with silk because it feels so good. If you haven’t tried sewing anything with silk lining, try it. A bodice like this doesn’t take much fabric to line either. However, the silk crepe de chine does creep if you try to cut it with scissors, so I use my rotary cutter instead to keep the fabric on grain while I am cutting it.

Both the organza and crepe de chine were also purchased from Mood in the color mazarine blue. The seam allowances in the skirt are finished with hong kong seams using pre-made, gold lamé bias tape. The hem is also bound with the same gold bias tape too. Half-inch wide navy horsehair was used in the hemline to provide more volume at the hem.

While I already knew brocade frays like mad, I was very surprised how badly the bias tape frayed. If I could get it in place on the first try there was minimal fraying, but the lame did not tolerate seam ripping well. While I would have loved all the seams to be perfect, but there are a few wavy seams that I chose to leave in place instead of risking overworking the fabric.

Vogue 9252 uses cup sizes in addition to regular sizes to get a better fit. I used the size 10 with the B cup pattern pieces based off my overbust measurement. For reference, I have an overbust of 30.5 inches and a bust of 32.5 inches. Zero alterations were made to the pattern. In actuality, and based off my underbust measurement, I am a 30D which actually has the same volume of a 34B according to sister sizing. So maybe the cup sizes for the pattern are based off a 34 band size? Bra sizes are confusing.

I was in a bit of a hurry to finish the dress in time, and I didn’t notice the back waist seams don’t align at the zipper until I was getting ready at the hotel. I felt like an idiot even though I know no one else cares about that (or even notices). My husband however, noticed because I have taught him so much about clothing over the past few years. At least the mistake was on my back so I didn’t have to look at it while I was wearing it. And, most importantly, I can fix it before I wear the dress again.

I threw in this silly picture just because I have to show off all my hard work I put into the inside of the dress.

The horsehair trim is encased within the hem and is not visible. After the raw edges of the hem were bound with bias tape, I stitched in the ditch of the binding to secure the horsehair braid to the lower edge of the wrong side of the hem. The hem was turned up, pressed into place, and hand stitched using a slipstitch catching only the organza interlining.

Special occasion garments are my favorite things to sew. It is such a treat to get to work with fine fabrics. Would you agree? Have you done any special occasion sewing lately?