I made this gown some time ago for a soprano friend of mine for a concert she did, and here’s the first chance I’ve had to blog about it!  My DD1 is modelling as I just couldn’t get a decent picture of it on my friend, so you’ll notice this gown doesn’t quite fit the model perfectly!

The fabric is a polyester satin-backed crepe with the loveliest weight and drape.  The bodice is underlined with  silk organza, and the entire dress is lined with bemberg.  We used the satin side for the midriff and the bodice ruffles for contrast.  I used Vogue 2607  for the skirt as this needed to be a formal performance gown.   It was the perfect skirt pattern for this gown:  it is waistband-less, full length and flared into a small train.  Best of all – I didn’t have to think about fiddling around – I could just cut and fit.  I bagged the hem for a couple of reasons, although it’s not what I wanted to do.  What I really wanted to do, but didn’t have time, was to have a separate petticoat with a hem ruffle under the train to give it that floaty characteristic that’s so amazing to see.  But I had not underlined the skirt, and hemming the crepe by hand or machine would have shown all the stitches and I didn’t want that.  So bagging the hem was the final decision, and it worked well.The pattern instructions were quite simple to follow and it went together very easily.  I had no complaints about the pattern, although the front is rather low.  At some point I intend to make the dress up again in the shorter version.  Maybe for DD1, as it’s a very flattering design all around.