Elie Saab inspired dress

Elie Saab - Resort 2014

In August 2015 we were invited to a wedding of a good friend. My client (obviously) had "nothing" to wear. She was extremely busy with work, so shopping was out of the question.

On the way to the reception. The fabric is merciless and wrinkles badly.

I had a cotton satin blend in gorgeous green colour in my stash. I think I bought it to make a skirt. It had to be made into a dress.

Starting with my Rundschau (Мюллер) dress draft, I drew design lines, and made a pattern. This one had a lot of pattern pieces. To stiffen the front décolleté I used sew-in hair canvas interfacing. It also helped with stability when I started applying crystal claw rivets.

Rivets of doom. They did not want to stay in place!

The dress has hand-made shoulder pads, again with pieces of hair canvas and cotton wadding.

I did not line the dress simply because I did not have any appropriate lining, and because I did not have any budget to go buy anything. As well, it was very hot, and if the lining were synthetic, the client would have been miserable.

The slit in the back is not lapped, and I used grosgrain ribbon (from the Dollar Store - Dollarama) to finish the edges. I used the same ribbon to finish the turned under hem (remember, I don't own an overlock machine). If I remember correctly, I bought the ribbon for a different project altogether.

In the back I used an invisible zipper, even though my preference would have been a metallic zipper with a chunky zipper pull.

Moulin Spa Wakefield, QC - August 2015

What do you think?