Glittery check dress based on Ulla Johnson runway dress

 

 I made this a few months ago but never wore it due to this is a heavier weight, wintery scuba fabric and the weather then was just too hot.

Its perfect for now though and also a bit Festivaley I think. Despite Christmas has gone I am still feeling partyish this year and the silver thread ion this fabric just makes me feel happy.

The check has this silver glittery thread running though it which unfortunately you cannot see well on the photos.

I really wanted to make the Ulla Johnson dress here and thats what this hack of several patterns is inspired by:

Well I kind of got the sleeves right and the ruched bodice is not too far off  but when I attached my skirt it was far too long - like about 50cm too long so I had to alter and the easiest way was to hack off the bottom. Thats given my dress a more fitted look and less flowiness than the original. 

By the way the original is made from cotton - I assume a woven cotton so despite similarity of print - as in check - then its really very different. I already had the check scuba fabric and it just felt right to make this.

Probably I really should start modelling these clothes I make with "proper" shoes but they just get taken in real life and I live in trainers and walking boots.

The main bodice on my dress is Burda dress 04/2013#127 which is for stretch fabrics hence I cannot use this for a direct woven copy of this dress but the pattern shapes could help me to draft some non-stretch pattern pieces - or if I was to trace the Burda dress say 2-3 sizes larger would that make it work in a non-stretch fabric? The Burda pattern does actually have a centre back zip but my fabric on both this and my previous version is very stretchy so I just eliminated that.

I would also need to shorten the bodice because my version is far too long in the bodice next to the Ulla Johnson Version.

The original Burda design dress has different sleeves. This green dress was not well made though. I should probably make a new version. I got a bit confused as to what sewed to what on the green version and its not quite right at the bottom hem. At least I got that bit right this time. 

The newer dress is also a smaller size though to be honest I am wondering if I did right to do that because the looser dress is much more flattering ( doesn't show my bulges as much, Ha!)

The sleeves are from Butterick 5562 view B

I recently made a black lace top with these sleeves using Butterick 5562 view B:

 Sleeves are also Uber long like the Ulla Johnson version, though perhaps I should have added mitts?
 You can just about make out the glitter in the below photo. Its actually very glittery but does not show up well in the photos which s a shame.

Skirt is self drafted. Its a circle skirt so that was relatively easy. If you need to find a pattern for this - or rather directions how to make a circle skirt Mood Sewciety has this for free. There are also lots of other places for this around the internet.

 

Anyway I am currently enjoying this dress a lot so despite the skirt not quite fitting the look I intended I may well have to make another of these. Being scuba its also very comfortable and easy to wear. And of course has a lovely swirly circle skirt hem. Perfect for parties!

I would still like to have a try at making a cotton version thats a bit more like the Ulla Johnson dress but maybe thats a project for the spring. It cannot be that difficult to alter the blocks I used for the Vampires Wife dresses I made a couple of years ago and I do love this kind of challenge. It will take a few weeks to work it out I am sure, but its very tempting. Maybe I should include that on my New Years to-do list?

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for visiting my blog,

Bracken