Meet my LBD!
I once went to a fashion seminar, and the speaker declared that both white shirts and Little Black Dresses (LBDs) were integral parts of a woman’s wardrobe, and that frankly, if you had neither in your possession, then not only were you letting your wardrobe down but you were letting YOURSELF down. And yes, I do believe she glared at the room over the top of her bifocals as she made this declaration.
At the time I laughed it off quietly to myself. Who needs a little black dress when you can have a magnificent red one, I thought to myself. Sure, Audrey did make the LBD pretty iconic in Breakfast At Tiffany’s. And who can forget Elizabeth Hurley’s Versace number held together with safety pins? But still – I don’t do black! Black is safe! And predictable. Give me a bright dress any day – I’ve got my style sorted and I don’t need to follow no stinkin’ fashion rules!
The I meet this glorious black beaded and sequinned black lace, and my mind changed faster than you can say IT’S A FASHION MAINSTAY FOR A REASON! This lace was calling my name, and I was besottedly answering back.
Because this lace is so divinely luxe, I decided to keep the overall design of the dress simple, so the lace could shine. I chose the classic shaping of Vogue 8766, view B and the only change I made was lengthening the ruffle.
When working with lace, it’s always best to underline your fabric unless you really want the fabric to be see through. What is underlining? It is simply putting a layer of fabric under your main fabric (the lace), which you sew together within the seam allowance and then treat as a single piece of fabric. I used a silk/cotton voile to both underline and then line my dress, except for the ruffle – that I kept sheer to add a bit of va-va-voom! The silk/cotton voile keeps the dress light, which is a good thing as this lace, being corded as well as beaded and sequinned, was heavy enough to start with, so I kept my layering fabric as light as possible.
Underlining does create a bit of extra work, but the end effect is absolutely worth it! The other thing I always do when working with a beaded or sequinned fabric is to remove any beads/sequins from my seam allowance, so my machine doesn’t have a conniption trying to sew over them (or even worse – break a needle!). I estimate I spent a good 4 hours carefully removing the beads and tying up the ends so none of the remaining ones would unravel, but it was time well spent, as sewing the dress up after was a breeze.
The ruffle at the bottom of the dress was cut to show off the stunning scallop detail of the lace. I love the swishly feeling it makes as you walk around in it! I am so happy with how this dress turned out – it’s elegant, sophisticated and just the right side of sexy. I think my LBD are going to be best friends for a very long time to come – maybe that fashion lecturer was right!
PS I still don’t own a white shirt!
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