McCalls evening gown

Making this gown has been a dream come true for me…Since I was a little girl, I was always obsessed with trained gowns and if you told that little girl that one day she’s be making her own girl, I think she’d be screaming out of disbelief. 😱 😍

Now, I know…we all know there’s no xmas or new year’s eve parties to go to this year *sigh* but if what you’re making brings you festive joy, just like how making this gown-fascinator combo did for me, then we should focus on soaking all that good energy instead of being sad that we have no where to go🎄⭐️❄️. My heart is just so content that this year I could make something so sparkly and so beautiful and enjoy every minute of the process.❤️

For the construction of this gown, I used the one shoulder bodice from McCalls 8142, which has gathers on the shoulder seam as well as the left front side seam. For the trained skirt, I used McCalls 7683. I love both of these patterns and highly recommend them for those who want to get a bang for their buck! Each has various bodice and skirt options that you can mix and match, so definitely good staples for your stash.

And now onto the sparkly, festive knit fabric I used, which was gifted to me from Minerva. This was the Lurex textured knit fabric in silver that I specifically chose for this gown.

I have gotten so many questions in response to sharing the progress photos on my Instagram so keep reading as I am going to share everything!

First off, unlike what it may look, there are no glitters ‘glued’ to the fabric. So you don’t need to worry about glitter falling everywhere (phew!). The fabric threads are made off soft metal filaments, so that’s what makes the fabric shiny.

In terms of the material, I got asked a lot about whether the fabric is rough and would make your skin itchy. Well, if you touch the surface, it isn’t your typical smooth cotton-like feel because of the shiny metal filaments but I wouldn’t say it is rough. And it really doesn’t matter because the back of the fabric (wrong side) is smooth like a cotton so you do not feel the right side of the fabric on your skin (unless for whatever reason you are using the right side in the inside of the garment?)

Lastly, I didn’t have troubles when sewing with this knit but I am also biased because I love knits. One thing I do want to mention though is that if you end up making mistakes and therefore unpicking stitches (which happened to me a lot), just be careful not to pull on the fabric’s metallic threads. Once they’re pulled out, it’s hard to restore the picked thread back into the fabric, so be very patient when unpicking.

As you can very well see, I also made a matching fascinator with this fabric to go with this outfit. Can you tell I have been watching too much of ‘the Crown’ lately? 👑

I admit (shamelessly) that I have been staring at my own photos for much longer than I did with previous dresses. I am so in my element in this look and I so look forward to the day when I can rock this beauty in town.💄💋💅🏼💃🏻

Hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think xxx

Until the next dress,

With much love xxx

Ava @DressedbyAva