Finished Butterick 6019 in Shocking Pink

Yay--a dress made just for fun! This is my pattern, Butterick 6019, which I've been dying to make for myself since it came out last month.

Here's the line drawing, so you can see the two different views.

This pattern was inspired by the designs of Alfred Shaheen, and I developed the pattern by draping it, which was both challenging and fun. 

One of the main features of the dress is the bias strip that crosses over the bust. In the pattern, the instructions tell you to tuck the right side of the bias band into the side seam, but I decided to experiment with seaming it and leaving it out. I think it looks pretty cool!

The fabric is an amazing silk shantung woven from hot pink and orange threads. It practically glows. I bought it in Salt Lake City maybe three years ago, and I'm thrilled to have finally sewn it.

 

There's a lot of understructure in this dress. Let's start with the skirt. I underlined in in silk organza, and used hem lace at the bottom. I decided to use horsehair braid on the skirt lining--I saw this recently when I was lucky enough to look inside a couture gown. It makes so much sense! You get the structure of the horsehair braid, but you can't see it on the outer fabric. (For instructions on sewing with horsehair braid, see this post and this video!)

Here's the dress inside out. The horsehair braid is hidden between the skirt layers. 

(Oh, BTW! The pattern doesn't call for a skirt lining, but I added one made of cotton broadcloth.) I also lengthened the skirt by about 3 inches, for a more tea-length vibe.

The bodice has all sorts of stuff. 

I added a grosgrain waist stay, underwires (see tutorial here), bra cups, and interfacing. There's fusible batting to support the outer cup, and steel boning throughout. 

There are two sections of elastic shirring in the back. I used 1/8" strips of elastic sandwiched into channels rather than elastic thread, which I'm going to put into a tutorial soon. 

I'm super happy with how the dress turned out. Which is good, because I put a lot of time into it! 

This is a really fun pattern to sew, and it makes me feel like a movie star. So, two thumbs up! (Wait, I can review my own pattern, right?)

Has anyone else made this one yet? I'm looking forward to doing another version with the slim skirt.