Work in progress: Silk party dress / Create / Enjoy

Work in progress: Silk party dress

9.22.2010

I wanted to share this one with you as it is now... wearable, "finished," but possibly in need of some more trim or accessorizing!
My cousin is getting married late next month in sunny Florida, so I need something formal and tropical-appropriate but not summery. I have been playing around with options, and I have a couple other dresses in mind that I have fabric for but have never needed to make, so you may see some more choices coming up. This dress may be a little too playful and girly for a formal wedding... we'll see.
For this one, I really got to be a designer... I used a standby pattern (McCall's M5489) as a base and added my own design:

I added ruching to the center of the sweetheart neckline, and I went nuts with the skirt: I had tons of this almost-hot pink silk chiffon from Goodwill, and it really feels and looks vintage to me. It is also much more likely that it's vintage, because... who uses hot pink silk anymore? MEEEE. I'm very excited to have it; it feels so much better than poly. I used a heavy hot pink poly that I got literally for $1/yard on clearance at JoAnn a while ago (I figured, I like pink, better pick this up). Anyway, with lots of sheer fabric, I did several layers of skirt cut asymmetrically. I was going for more "edgy teen homecoming" than "Barbie tutu."
Think of me as a mannequin (sorry, I don't look good enough today for my face to go with a party dress!) ;)

I also added boning to the structure of the dress (not sure if the pattern recommends this... haven't read it). It helps it stay up; honestly, just about every strapless dress needs a little boning. I added it on the sideseams and center front and back (I now realize I could have used that flexible stuff in the bias casing you buy in the roll, but my mom has 1/4" plastic-dipped steel boning she uses for corsets for historic clothing, and I used a few pieces of that that I housed in matching bias tape casings that I hand-stitched in through just the lining.

So, what I'm wondering is...
What else does the dress need? I like the idea of some self-fabric flowers or poufs, like some of the wedding dresses I've been researching have, but I also could just keep it simple (it's already showy since it's HOT PINK) and go with a matching grosgrain belt or a self-fabric bias belt (I have plenty of the chiffon left over). And of course, I will need darling peeptoe pumps and cute jewelry with it!!
Here's some formal dress faves of mine in the same flavor as my new pink number:
Ruche: