Hi ,

Early last year  I went to Bali and came home with a heap of fabric,here is a link to my tumblr blog  being very new at it all my son had set that up for me for my first RTW Fast.

One of the fabrics I purchased was this amazing silk backed with organza and stitched to form channels. It is a lovely taupe,mushroom color as I didn’t at the time know what I would make I only got 1.5m . When I was deliberating about what to make for my last school Ball. My youngest child finishes this year. I had contemplated making this.

I got a little too busy with various things to take the time to develop the pattern for the grey silk so I sketched up an this idea instead to make use of the fabric from Bali.
I wanted to make a dress that had no zipper and as the width of the fabric was exactly the length I needed giving me a small frill at the top and a larger ruffle at the bottom.

While I was planning  I found this sequinned fabric,  I knew it would make a great little evening jacket. The pattern I have decided to use for the jacket is a tried and true Marcy Tilton blogged about here

Sequinned sheer

My dress idea

I didn’t really make a pattern for the dress I just cut two strips and added darts at the bust line for a little shaping. I really wanted it to be comfortable and easy.

I used some silk satin that I had in my “started to make something else out of a long time ago but lacked the skill at that time”stash.Do you have one of those?

Lining Fabric

I have always had a love affair with silk, leather, wool so over the years I have collected a bit of all three, some successful, some not, but I keep it all just in case it can be transformed. I found the hardest thing about this dress was that with the onset of cold weather my hands are really dry and kept catching on the silk so I had to get cotton gloves to do all the hand sewing . I used French seams and the jacket was lined in the same silk satin as the dress. I only had lining in the dress to the knee and added a split for movement.

Bali Fabric Dress Front

Bali Fabric Evening Dress Back

Straps and Top

The Organza lining the dress, to give the ruching, was just folded and hand stitched to allow the selvage to form the bottom so no hem Yay!!!

Hem Inside

Button Close Up

Marcy Tilton Jacket

Hand made button Loop

Jacket Lining

The Jacket Pattern doesn’t call for lining but the sequinned fabric was really scratching me so I felt it would be more comfortable lined. Here is the finished garment.

Finished

This is a great outfit!It really worked well and was exactly what I wanted comfort and fun.

I danced my feet off at the ball (so much so I hobbled the next day).
It is very easy to wear and so comfortable, the split meant I got to try all the moves on the dance floor, really fun but now I remember why I wear flats most of the time, dancing in heels leaves a special kind of pain.

The jacket I love just the right amount of sass but with the lining feels very lush. The Marcy Tilton jacket pattern I am sure will be made again it is an easy make with an interesting shape and I love the fact that it is not uniform, a little free flowing, I like to think that is a part of my style. Special occasion outfits can be a fun challenge when you can make the time.

Happy Sewing,

Sue 🙂