I saw a dress in vogue with a really pretty pleated bodice; it was a more unusal take on the classic prom dress. I wanted do to something similar but with a great print, that would show off the pleating detail.
As soon as I saw this black, orange, red and green floral fabric I fell in love with it. It has looks as through the fabric has been painted with rich oil paints, as the vibrant colours really stand out. The fabric is actually cotton, which is great for me as it was fairly inexpensive and easy to iron.
The pattern for the dress was a basic bodice and bias cut full skirt. I wanted to do lots of pleats on the bodice, so I divided the bodice into 16 strips about 2cm apart, then after the fabric had been cut out I was able to carefully iron each pleat perfectly into place. I added gold buttons to the back of the dress as buttons always look so much prettier then zips and seem to get more attention too.
Underneath the knee length bias cut skirt a layer of tuelle was added both to add volume and also to make one feel more like a princess in the dress.
The dress has enough character to get away without accessories, but some ehnic gold jewellry along with a great tan would really show the dress off to the best of it’s abilites.
