Well here is one hot little number for the new year! I found this black faux leather awhile ago at Hobby Lobby in their clearance section and grabbed what I could. I had already used it on the waistband of a skirt, and now I just bit the bullet and used it for a whole dress! Here was my inspiration:
I used Butterick 6016 and cut the size 10. The bodice sewed perfectly and fit my body perfectly. Even the zipper in the back lay completely flat with no alterations.
I used a gold metal exposed zipper, which I have been told, combines with the black pleather to make my dress look very sexy! Even though the cut is modest, apparently the material and notion choices can change everything.
The argument I have with this pattern is the skirt. The pockets are positioned right in front, so if I had my hands in both of them it looks like I am being inappropriate! All they would have needed to do is move them out a bit and it would have been fine. The other thing is that the front pleats on the skirt are build around the pockets, encasing them and making them deep enough to actually be pockets. But the instructions tell you to stitch the pleats down all the way to the hem, which just leaves a bulky excess of fabric stitched down on the inside. It didn’t make sense to me, so after I did it I went back with my seam ripper and took them out up to about 1.5″ below the useless pockets. Now I have the benefits of the pleats, plus the useless pockets they contain.
Now I love it as a great, edgy take on a classic LBD.
I lined the pockets with red Chinese satin, and the bodice with black poly crepe, both from my Grandma’s Stash.
Look at those pockets! Right in front! Seriously, what were they thinking?
