My Prom Dress

I recently had my prom which as we all know is the most important night in every girls life. And by that I mean the hugely overhyped, incredibly American, awkward evening of standing around and making small talk with people you didn't even realise were in your year. So yeah, lots of fun!

Regardless of this however, I decided to make my prom dress, because hey, when you've had a month of exams, what's better than more stress? It was something that I've always wanted to do and I wanted the chance to push myself and make something that I could wear and be proud of.

I'm really pleased (and quite smug) to say that it was actually a success! Like many others, I thought that I may be running round a shopping centre the day of prom, trying to find something to wear after everything had failed. This was not the case, though I'm not denying the fact that there was a little last minute sewing.

My dress is made of two separate pieces, the top and the skirt, though I wore the top tucked in so that this wasn't obvious. I used two patterns for this: McCall's M7355 where I made skirt B, and Simplicity 8130 where I made top A.

I used a beautiful teal satin duchess polyester with black trimmings, straps and netting. It's not really a colour I normally go for, but I am absolutely obsessed with it! It looks different in every light, sometimes it's really green and others its much more blue.

It took me a while to decide whether to make a long or short skirt and I went for short in the end. I am really pleased about this, I think that it was definitely the right choice. I had enough difficulty navigating the gravel path in heels, I did not need a long skirt to worry about too! Plus, I was going to make the top from the McCall's pattern, but I changed my mind and bought the Simplicity pattern instead, which gave the dress more of a 50s edge, so the shorter skirt worked better with it.

I love 50s fashions and I really think that the little nipped in waists and full skirts are very flattering. Team that with the cute little collar and sweetheart neckline and I was completely in love. Although the collar did cause me quite a lot of grief during the production (its not even!), its one of my favourite parts of the dress. My other favourite part is the dotty buttons going down the back. They are just such fun - I love them!

The top was originally going to include boning (strips of plastic used as stiffener), but I decided not to include it. The fabric was stiff enough and it had interfacing, so it really didn't need any more structure. It would've also made it really difficult to sit down without being jabbed in the boob!

I don't know exactly how long the dress took me to make, because I did little bits at a time. I was working on it for just over a month, but as some of you may well know, the most time consuming part of any garment is always in the cutting and not the sewing. I estimate that it probably took me 20 hours, though I really have no idea.

In total, this dress cost me around £70, which I really don't think is too bad. That's the amount I would've wanted to spend had I gone to a shop and bought one, and making it was much more fun! Prom dresses are, on average, a lot more expensive than that, so I really think that it is quite reasonable.

If I could change anything about my dress, it would be the hem on the skirt. It is really bulky and wouldn't lie flat no matter how much I ironed it, but despite that, I am really happy with my dress. I enjoyed wearing it and am proud of myself for making it.

I wore my hair in milkmaid braids to try and continue the 50s theme and I did a cut-crease (ish) teal eyeshadow look with a nude lip. I wore small black heels, because I really did not want to be taller than everyone!

I did enjoy prom, more than I thought I would. My advice would be to go in with no expectations whatsoever, so that anything that happens is a nice surprise. This is what I did, and I ended up having a good time!

I hope you enjoyed this little look at my prom dress and hearing all the behind-the-scenes gossip from its creating!

See you soon!