Emerald City Wedding Party Dress

When I was invited to my friends wedding reception which is being held this weekend I got very excited as it is the first of my friends getting married and because I thought I should make my own dress.  As it is a February wedding I didn't already have something suitable, most of my more formal dresses are floral and summery.  I had a look through the Sew Weekly Make This Look section which is really great for inspiration and quickly found the lovely Yellow Bow Prom Dress from River Island.   I was planning on entering it in that week of the Sew Weekly challenges but I missed the deadline due to people being sick from work so I entered it in the UFO challenge instead.

I really love this dress but again yellow would not be good for winter.  I did a fair bit of shopping around between fabric websites to find what I wanted and finally settled on Abakhans teal taffeta (warning- it is not teal, more emerald green but it photographs nearer teal) and satin backed dupion in sage.  I paid a little bit more for fancier material but it was with Christmas money and it is for a special occasion so I don't mind this time.

 I really love this dress!  The pattern came together really quickly and easily and is really very versatile.  There are several great dresses around from this pattern so I have no doubt I will be making it again.  The neckline is really flattering and the darts and pleats were fun to put in.  I did worry that it wasn't going to fit at one point but I held my breath and added the zipper and it was fine.  I did reduce the seam allowance in a couple of places and cut a little extra off the under arm as I  normally find them a bit tight but I don't think I even needed to do that in this dress.  

Pretty pleats!

I used my new zipper method and although this one didn't go in as easily as the last it still gave a clean finish.  The fabric is really quite thin and slightly slippy so I think that is why it was more difficult.  I remained patient when I unpicked though, which is unlike me!

I made it to be tied in the bow at the front but you can also wrap the sash like above or tie it at the back and leave the front plain.  I think this would be a really good bridesmaid dress pattern and the taffeta I use has a slightly permanently wrinkled look to it which means it won't show that much if it gets creased.  (It sounds nicer than I have written it!)  

In day light to show the colours better

I think I will tack the bow in place on the day to stop it flopping about and undoing as I think it looks nicest stood up in a pretty bow.

 I will wear it with black tights and my black flocked heels (which I love!) on the day but not sure what I am doing about hair and jewellery yet.  You can see the floppy bow here, not so nice as the first arranged picture I think.  I expect after all the dancing it will look floppy though!  So what do you think?  I was a little worried I might look more like a bridesmaid than just a wedding guest but I think their colours are blue and white so I should be safe!