Prom Musings

It's that time of year again ... PROM! Can't you just smell the hairspray and tears? It seems like suddenly everyone has already bought their prom dresses, so I figured it was time to actually get started on mine - no need for a repeat of last year's frantic, 11pm-on-the-night-before hemming! Last year's prom dress was ... interesting. It was the first time I'd used real silk and it was amazing, I loved the pattern, the crinoline was super fun and I was overall pretty pleased with how it turned out. Still, there were a lot of things for me to nitpick now, and most of them would have been fixed if I hadn't been sewing it the week before the big day.

Ugh look at those wrinkles - definitely
a side effect of my procrastination!

I don't know about other schools, but at mine both juniors and seniors go to Prom, and it's kind of accepted that juniors wear short dresses and seniors wear long dresses. Of course, this isn't strictly followed - I actually had several friends who wore long dresses last year, though I did find it funny that two of my close friends and I independently chose variations on what was essentially the same basic style:

Kaylyn looking classy and elegant, Liz being quirky and bold, and me with a vintage twist - I love how our dresses captured each of our personalities while still having a lot in common - it's easy to see why we're friends!

This year, though, I know I want a full ball gown. It's such a shame that we never get to dress up like that anymore, so I'll be taking any chance I get for full-on old-school glamour. Last year I used a vintage 1950s pattern, which was really fun and actually not as daunting as it first appeared.

Source

This year, though, I think I'll be taking my design skills a step further and coming up with a plan that's entirely my own ... which is only slightly terrifying. Slightly. I'm not 100% certain on what I want, but here's what I do have figured out:

1) Pink. 

I'm still a little shocked with myself for this decision, but it feels like the right direction. The thing is, blue has always been my color, ever since I was a little girl. The walls of my bedroom are blue, half my wardrobe is blue, last year's prom dress was blue ... It's a color I feel comfortable in - I have blue eyes, after all, and along with my blonde hair I've always assumed that blue was my best color. Now, don't get me wrong. I still love blue, and I don't see it losing its place of honor in my wardrobe any time soon, but for prom I was in the mood for something different.

Scrolling through Pinterest I found myself really attracted to deep burgundies and blushing roses - especially when paired together, like in this dress.

Source

I'm a little bit nervous - I'm very pale with a tendency towards redness, and certain pinks just look all wrong on me. But I really love this color combination, and even though it isn't as sure a shot as navy blue, I'm sure I can find the right shades to make this really stunning. I don't know if this makes sense at all, but in my mind blue is elegant, sophisticated -- pink glows. I want to glow this year.

2) Silk. 

Confession time - last year's prom dress was my first time ever sewing silk, and it scared me out of my mind. I read half a million articles on every way that it could go wrong and by the time the fabric arrived I had worked myself into a full-on panic. It was so pretty - so expensive! Clearly I wasn't skilled enough to even cut into it, let alone sew it!

Last year's fabric all piled on my bed - cotton for the lining, tulle
for the crinoline, and the beautiful silk dupioni in the middle!

... But then I did, and I was absolutely shocked to find that sewing with silk (or silk dupioni at least) was a dream. It cut nicely, it took a crease better than anything I'd ever seen, and it came together into the prettiest, drapiest, dreamiest dress I'd ever sewn. I was in love.

Of course, I learned a lot about sewing from this experience - you can't half ass silk. It needs to be cut and pinned and pressed and aligned and all done properly, no shortcuts, but I found that when I did things right, everything actually went pretty smoothly. (Knock on wood.) This whole experience really informed my philosophy on sewing:

It's better to invest the time (and money) in real materials and doing things right the first time rather than wasting energy on short-cuts and synthetics.

... Of course, I rarely follow this philosophy - but it's a nice one all the same. 

So, long story short, I ordered 11 swatches of pretty pink silk dupioni that just arrived yesterday! Aren't they just the prettiest? I'm in love!!

(On a side note, I am soooo glad I ordered swatches - many of them look nothing like the images on Etsy!)

3) Long, full-skirted, strapless and twirly.

Okay, so that's actually four things, but it's all under the category of general design. Like I said, I'm not 100% certain yet, but I plan on doing some sort of strapless bodice (probably sweetheart neckline?) paired with a big, full circle-skirt. I don't think I'll wear a crinoline or anything, but I might add some horsehair braid to the hem of the skirt - all I know for sure is that I want it to be drapey and twirly and somewhere in between the long, straight skirts that seem super popular today and the big, puffy princess skirts that scream 1980s.

I ordered a couple of patterns from McCall's to try for the bodice (they were on sale for $2.50 a piece! What a steal! So of course I ended up ordering 8 other random patterns as well ...).

The whole idea of a strapless bodice terrifies me just a little bit, but I've been doing a bit of research and it looks like it all goes back to my new sewing philosophy - do it properly (boning, lining, waist stay etc.) and it should (fingers crossed) work.

That's about all that I have figured out right now - I guess the next step is mocking up the bodice and finally deciding which silk to use ... ugh, too many choices! #SeamstressProblems, right?

~ Emma