Prom Dress Diary 4: decoration

So now I had my prom dress put together, it was time to for decoration, which is the part I was most excited for!
Generally, I didn't want to go too over the top on decorating it but I was following the theme of pink flowers and silver glitter. I saw one of these really pretty cherry blossom trees and every time I saw it, it just reminded me of my prom dress :)


So to decorate my dress I.....

• Sewed long silver beads along the edge of the lace cutout (I did have these beads around the neckline before I put the lace cutout panel on the top but I took those off)
• Attached the embroidered tulle that I bought around the hem on my cotton skirt and let the glitter tulle layer of my skirt hang over it
• I sewed a thick ribbon all around the waist which I wore tied up at the back
• And finally, I made my corsage. This was actually my favourite part, it was fun just to make a little thing

My dress was done (pretty much) If I'm honest I did turn up at Louise's house a couple of hours before prom with a needle and thread still sewing my dress (just finishing it off!) But at least I had it all done before prom actually started!

This is my dress completely finished just before we left for Prom. I wore silver glitter heels and had my hair in a curly updo with pink flowers in it. I ordered a sliver clutch bag but it never arrived...WAAA D':

After I put my dress together, I noticed that it looks a lot like a Princess dress I used to have when I was little...so here is a bit of a throwback for ya!
I didn't intend to make a dress that looked like my old one at all and I only realised it when I'd nearly finished my dress and I saw this picture of me when I was little so it was just really weird when I noticed how similar they actually are!


Also, prom was actually a lot better than I expected it to be. It was a fun night and we both liked it, so that was good!

Prom Dress Diary 3: construction

Prom was a couple of weeks ago now, but I haven't had much time to write about my dress since then so now, here is me making the main part of my dress!

Okay so to start as I didn't buy a dress pattern to make my dress from I used the black crop top that I bought as a guide for a shape to make the top of my prom dress. So I cut the pink cotton to the shape of the top and cut pink lace to make the back. I sewed the top together with double stitched seams so they were strong as I wanted to make sure the lace would stay in place. I sewed the edges of the neckline and armholes. I used hook and eyes as fastenings on one arm.
Next, I cut the pink cotton by eye to make a long skirt and sewed plain seams down the sides. I then sewed the glitter tulle netting round in a circled and placed it over the cotton with pleats to make it fit the cotton. As I wanted the skirt of the dress to have some shape to it, I gathered it at the top before sewing it onto the top of my dress. I cut the cotton and tulle netting to the correct length and hemmed the cotton.

After I had done all this, I actually decided that I didn't like the neckline of the dress as it was so high and with the long skirt it just looked a bit too much, so I decided to cut a sort of hourglass shape through the middle of the top and inserted lace in the cutout space.

This was basically how I put my dress together and I have one more post coming on how I decorated it <3

Prom Dress Diary 2: Buying Materials

As my last 'Prom Dress Diary' post says, I am going to make my dress for prom in June and these are my updates on making it. So, now I have bought most of my fabric and materials to make it so I should be able to start soon!
As I said before, I haven't drawn a definite final design but I now have one which is mostly what I want it to look like but I'm still not too sure of the length. Also, the real thing will have beads and fabric flowers on it but this picture is of my main design.

Because I'm not following any dress patterns, I didn't know exaclty how much fabric to buy so a lot of it was estimating. I think I have bought a bit too much but it's okay because I need some extra fabric to make the fabric flowers from and its always good to have some leftovers just in case I change my design along the way or make any mistakes. And I'll always use the leftover fabric for something else later on anyway!

So this is the fabric that I've bought...

4 yards of emrbroidered tulle ~ £14.34
I got this as a decorative extra to add to my dress, not too sure where I want to put it (maybe around the hem) but I got it cos its pwetty :)
This hasn't actually come in the post yet, but it should do soon!

 Boohoo Crop Top ~ £8.99 (incl. P&P)

 I ordered one of these high neck crop tops from Boohoo.com because this is the shape I want for the top part of my dress and I couldn't find a good pattern, so I got this top to disassemble it and use it as a pattern. I'll probably put it back together and keep it to wear afterwards!

(Boohoo.com Victoria Roll Neck Crop Top)

3 metres Glitter Tulle Netting ~ £10.32
The photo doesn't really show it, but its pale pink netting with sliver glitter all over it and its AMAZEBALLS. This fabric is for the skirt to go over the top to add body to the skirt and just look pretty really. When I ordered it the website called it "bubblegum pink" which made me think it would be a bit too dark but when it came it was really pale pink and just beyond perf! :)

2m pink lace ~ £5.90
This is for the back of the top, so it will just be lace across my back. The lace looks kind of a more intense pink than my other fabric but actually when there is just one layer of it, it is quite light. The lace is a flower print knit which ties in with the fabric flowers I will have on the dress for decoration.

3 metres 100% cotton ~ £12.00

This will make the front of the top and the main skirt under the glitter netting. It is quite pink but in reality its a bit lighter than the picture.

2 metres Plain Pink Tulle Netting ~ £2.60

Not sure if I'll use this or not yet, but I got it in case I need it to add some shape to the skirt underneath the cotton, so it's basically just plain pink netting.

 

Hook and Eyes ~ £0.00 (I already had them)

1 metre Medium Weight  Fusible Interfacing ~ £1.79

5 metres Pink Double Satin 19mm Ribbon ~ 3.28

The hook and eyes are for the top half of my dress, I might put them all along it, depending on how tight and hard to get into it is. But I will definitley have to put one at the back of the high neckline so I can get that on

 properly. Interfacing is used to fabric stiffer. I got some iron on interfacing because I think the cotton will be too flimsy on the top; especially around the neck so I will use this to stiffen it. The ribbon is mainly to make my corsage but I may use it as decoration in other areas.

I will make decorative fabric flowers out of all of the leftover fabrics.

This should be most of the stuff I need, but I also have to get some pink thread and maybe a few more beads. So the total cost for all of this was £59.22 add that total to my total from my last post and the cost so far is....£67.21! As I only have a couple more small things to get, this should be very close to my final cost total to make the dress, unless I find later on that I have to buy something else. The average cost of a prom dress is £244, so making it should end up a lot cheaper, the cost is probably all in the labour. Well, I can start making now! Let's just hope it goes well...

Prom Dress Diary 1: Planning

So prom is on 28th June and most people (well....girls) seem to be buying their dresses now, and for a long time I have been thinking about making my own dress but because of all the exams I have at the moment I have considered that i might not have enough spare time. But to be honest I spend most of my time sitting around, watching TV, on twitter and eating Milky Bars anyway so this can't hurt! I decided to stop moaning about it and just make my prom dress....or attempt to anyway! Im gunna go for it!

I have had a design for a dress for a very long time but lately my ideas keep changing. Although I considered a dark blue like navy or midnight blue, one thing that has generally been consistant is that my dress would be pale pink. So I dont have a definite design but I have a few different ones which I will probably combine as I go along to make it. As my year 7 design & technology teacher always said "if you fail to plan then you plan to fail" and I always though "screw that!" I have a general idea in my head of what the dress will look like, and these pictures show you a few general sketches I have done of some ideas but I know I will end up changing it as I go along, so we may as well all just wait and see how it turns out when its done! And lets hope its pretty decent or else I will have to try and buy a dress last minute....that or go to prom naked....awkward!

Louise gave me this idea and I thought it sounded pretty snazzy, so as I make it I will post my 'Prom Dress Diary' to update where I am and how I've done it....and whether or not I have had a mental breakdown yet!

At the moment I have only just started, which means that I sort of have a design! And today I bought some paper flowers in pink and white from a craft shop [total of £2], which I will probably use to make a wrist corsage along with some fabric flowers I will make later on. I also bought some Dylon fabric dye in 07-powder-pink [for £5.99] which you can use as a permanent pigment to colour clothes in your washing machine at home. I got this just in case i needed it. Right now I also have some beads because I searched through my room as I knew I had some beads somewhere and found these three tubes from ages ago, which just happened to be the perfect colours!

For now, the current total cost is £7.99! Im pretty sure that making my own dress will work out cheaper than buying one and as I go along I'll work out the cost to find out if I am right! But at the moment I reckon for anyone who can or wants to, making your own prom dress will be worthwhile for cost as well as individuality!

Hopefully my dress will end up alright and at least wearable! This should be an interesting 3-ish months!

~Erin~