Senior Prom for my Sweet Senior

My third daughter is a senior this year and making her prom dress was bittersweet for me. And what is seemingly becoming the norm for my girls, it was last to be finished - in this case we were hemming the night before prom and I was stitching trim on hours before prom.

A picture is so important because it gives me a starting point.  Looking at a picture, changes or additions can be made right at the beginning on the pattern and muslin mockup.

Inspiration Dress

To start, I look at each part of the dress and break it into sections - front bodice, back bodice, front skirt, back skirt.   Sometimes I get lucky and can find one pattern to match the picture and then just make some minor adjustments.  Usually I need two or more patterns to get close to the inspiration dress.  In this case, I used two:

For the bodice I used McCall's 7720.  The front bodice had the right shape. The back bodice needed to be modified slightly to give a "V" shape.

For the skirt I used McCall's 6893.  I used skirt "A" and modified it to add a slit to the side front.

 Muslin mockup of the dress -

Bodice 

First attempt at ruching the bodice. Not pretty but the idea
was there, sort of.  It was enough for me to start the dress.

Skirt with the addition of a slit

Bodice with the back altered to make a "V"

With the muslin pattern done and fitted to my daughter, we were ready to start the dress. I didn't take pictures of the entire process, mostly just the ruching because I finally figured it out.  I love YouTube, I love being stumped and finding a video that gets me unstumped. Okay, I don't love being stumped,  I love when I find something that gets me unstumped.  In this case, I found the help I needed on YouTube and Pinterest.  With this help, a lot of pins and a few do-overs, I learned a better way to "ruche.'  

First side pinned

Overlapping side pinned

Once the chiffon was pinned, I hand basted the folds to keep
them where I wanted them before taking it to my sewing machine

  The rest of the dress came together beautifully.  

The straps - this was the point where I paused for thought. As you can see from the inspiration dress, it's strappy with no visible adjustable hooks.

Initially, I thought they had to be adjustable or would sag somewhere.  I didn't want any visible loops though, I really liked the look of the inspiration dress' strappy back.  In the end, hooks were placed at the end of each strap and then four ribbon loops were sewn to the inside of the back bodice.  Once fitted, the straps stayed in place.

Clear hooks attached to each strap

Grosgrain ribbon loops sewn to the inside of the back bodice

Finished, day of prom... literally.

The rhinestone trim is from CrystalTrimmings at Etsy.  

This was a special one for me this year, a simple design for my beautiful senior.  

This girl and her friends, great memories!