3 dresses and a skirt are going to make for 1 fabulous vintage gypsy dress. I have a Halloween party tonight & after coming across this inspiration photo (below), I decided that I wanted to be a gypsy (always my favorite as a kid). I had picked up the first two dresses at a second hand store a few months ago knowing that I wanted to do something with the great fabric. After deciding that I wanted one great dress, I went back & picked up the third dress and skirt. I don't remember exactly, but I think all totaled, my outfit us under $20 - and took me a day & 1/2 to finish.
I decided to use this dress as my foundation. I like the neckline, it fit me well & I liked the sleeves. All of these dresses are made on the bias, so they have a clingy feel & it's more difficult to work with, but I think it was worth it.
All the dresses were 90's dresses with a 40's throw-back style and fell about mid calf. I knew I wanted a long dress, and not a tiered ruffle look, so that meant I needed to cut right into the center of the dress & sew in some gore-skirt type inserts. A dress form was mandatory for this reincarnation.
Step 1 was to put the dress on the form & mark the center front. I used a chalked string to mark my center front. I picked the cherry fabric dress to be my front panel, so I hung it up so that the cherry dress was touching the floor & marked how far up on to the dress my cut needed to be made.
All the dresses were 90's dresses with a 40's throw-back style and fell about mid calf. I knew I wanted a long dress, and not a tiered ruffle look, so that meant I needed to cut right into the center of the dress & sew in some gore-skirt type inserts. A dress form was mandatory for this reincarnation.
Step 1 was to put the dress on the form & mark the center front. I used a chalked string to mark my center front. I picked the cherry fabric dress to be my front panel, so I hung it up so that the cherry dress was touching the floor & marked how far up on to the dress my cut needed to be made.
Step 2 is to sew in the insert. This was tricky & I did get some gathering on the top, but I just worked it into the design. I sewed all my panels with the seams facing the right side. First of all, it makes it easier to pin the work on the dress form before sewing, and second, after all my gores are sewn in, I went back in & restitched everything from the wrong side - creating french seams. French seams encase the raw edge inside a tube of stitching and are wonderful for sheer & silky fabrics like the silk chiffons I'm using here.
The front gore sewn in. The front, back & side gores are all inserted, now it's time to fill in the gaps between the gores to the floor. That's where I inserted the skirt pieces. | The front and back gores sewn in. Time to open the side seams. Step 3 was to fill in the squares that were left blank from the bottom edge of the original dress and the new hemline created by the inset gores. I cut rectangles out of the skirt fabric & attached it to the bottom of the original dress first, then I continued sewing the vertical seams all the way to the bottom (all my seams are still facing the outside at this point) |
Step 4 was to hem any bottom edges that needed it (some of hem was the already hemmed pieces of the original dress)
Step 5 was to trim all my seam allowances down to 1/4 inch, turn the dress inside out and re-stitch all the seams (right sides together now) creating finished french seams on the inside.
Lastly, I top-stitched a piece of lace from the cherry dress and created a "V" on the front of the dress. It adds a bit of figure flattering detail.
Step 5 was to trim all my seam allowances down to 1/4 inch, turn the dress inside out and re-stitch all the seams (right sides together now) creating finished french seams on the inside.
Lastly, I top-stitched a piece of lace from the cherry dress and created a "V" on the front of the dress. It adds a bit of figure flattering detail.
I'll take some pictures at the party tonight when I'm in full gypsy mode! Yay!
I made some flower pins from the scraps. Not sure how I will incorporate these yet, but they did come out pretty.