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Hello! I'm Suzannah, a serious DIYer and mom of two little ones. Follow along with my DIY fixer upper house renovations, sewing and crafty projects, real food recipes, and de-stressing goals.
I believe you can love your home just the way it is, AND have the power to design and make big changes to make it better.
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Little iridescent silk party dress

So, I keep mentioning that I'm going to this wedding this weekend, and I made a little hot pink silk party dress to maybe wear to the wedding, using vintage silk organza, and then I made matching fabric flowers to decorate it.  I'm not totally sure about it, though.  It might be too cute, too bright for a wedding.

So I put together another little dress--this one's little because it's made of scraps of silk dupioni (I used for lining) and iridescent silk chiffon that were left over from the bridesmaid dresses my mom made for my cousin's wedding a couple years ago.  I wish I had had just a little more... but, it worked out with some piecing in the midriff band, which is covered up by a little ruching.  I ended up making up my own pattern, because I cut out the top from McCall's M5849 but modified, which of course was about 4" too big, as most modern patterns end up, so I added decorative pleats in the center front.  Kind of like these dresses:
From Lulu's:
From ?:
Anyway, here it is--maybe I'll wear this to the wedding, maybe the pink.  I'm thinking I'll wait till I see the color scheme when I see my aunts and cousin the days before the wedding!

Silk is so much prettier once you get it all sewn together.  But, boy, is it messy to sew on--little threads everywhere, have to pin everything... but, like I said, great when it's done!  I also added several tucks at the bottom of the hem since I had enough fabric, and it adds texture and all.  Here's the base pattern I basically just used for a jumping off point:
And here's what it ended up as:

Short, but the iridescent silk is fun.  Like I said, depends what I feel like wearing the day of the wedding!

22 comments

  1. adorable! and the color is perfect for fall.

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  2. This one this one! What a perfect Florida in the fall dress! You'll be seasonally appropriate while not dying of heat stroke. I think it goes really nicely with your coloring too. Not everyone can pull off this shade :)

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  3. It's going to be very hard choosing between the two dresses!

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  4. i think you should go with the pink one instead. this one isn't as flattering...

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  5. I vote for this one!

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  6. They both turned out great! It'll be a tough decision on wedding day!

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  7. oh! I think this needs a few flowers too =)

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  8. I love both dresses, but I love the orange for fall!

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  9. I love this one! I think it would be better for a wedding than the pink one.

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  10. What a beautiful dress. I say take both. Hey, brides now change clothes between wedding and reception....why can't you? Right?

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  11. Very pretty and fallish! I vote you wear this one to the wedding.

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  12. This one! this one! I love the colour for fall!

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  13. OOOO! The color is fab and the fabric drapes beautifully!! Have fun at the wedding!

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  14. I love this dress! It's amazing that you made this pattern and pieced it with pieces of fabric! Great job!

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  15. I haven't read in awhile, so I hadn't seen the pink... I went back and looked AND... you have to wear the pink one. It's so fun and Florida!!

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  16. I love the orange tones, it's a fabulous fall colour!

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  17. Anonymous10/21/2010

    I am a big fan of the pink. It may be bright, but this is a wedding.

    If you do plan on wearing the orange one, I recommend dressing it up with some jewelry or a nice pashmina to make it wedding- appropriate if you know what I mean.

    Either way, I'm sure you'll look beautiful! Have a great time

    --College Crafter from Santa Clara,CA

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  18. Both dresses are absolutely adorable! Biut, I have to admit, I do prefer this one. If you ask me, the pattern is better for a wedding, altough they are both fabulous. In the end, of course, the dicision is yours.

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  19. Both dresses are too cute on your gorgeous frame! I think this one is perfect for fall and would not take the light of the day away from the bride like the hot pink one would, even though it's pretty. Don't forget a shawl to put over it!

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  20. Anonymous10/22/2010

    Well done! It looks great!I like the gather in front.

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  21. Anonymous10/22/2010

    OMW!!! i LOVE this dress !!!!!
    it's so stinkin' cute! I vote this one, but the other one is really cute too.

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