Red Cocktail Dress (Vogue 9343)

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I made this cocktail dress last summer for my birthday bonanza, but I never got round to photographing it for the blog...until now!

The basic idea behind this was, well, pretty basic. I decided to make myself a new dress because we were going to the opera like fancy people, so I wanted something suitable snazzy for the occasion. Yes, I already technically had clothing that fitted that brief, but we were going to see Carmen, and the main character of this famously wears a red dress, so obviously it had to be a red dress because I just love a good theme. As my wardrobe was sadly lacking in red cocktail dresses, I now had the perfect excuse to go make myself one.

I decided to use Vogue 9343*, which has a beautiful plunging neckline and big swishy skirt, pretty much my two favourite design elements in one dress. I went for option A, the shorter skirt version, and also decided to line it, though the pattern is technically for an unlined version.

For fabrics, I went for some burgundy-coloured duchess satin, with some red satin for the lining. This was my first time using duchess satin, and I am absolutely enamoured. It has a lovely sheen, though isn't shiny like satin usually is (I have found myself slowly going off shiny fabrics of late) and is gloriously stiff (suppresses laughter), which makes the skirt super voluminous and bouncy without needing a petticoat or horsehair braid to help.

The pattern itself was great to follow - the back neck/collar section was a little tricky and fiddly, but the instructions did explain the whole process very well. A special mention has to be made over the fact that the skirt has pockets, something I will always obsess over because I like not carrying a bag and never know what to do with my hands when I'm walking if they don't have pockets to go into.

To add the lining, I just cut out all the pattern pieces (except the pockets) in my lining fabric, sewed the pleats into the bodice lining, sewed all the bodice lining seams, then instead of hemming the plunge/neck edge, this was sewn to the outer bodice right sides together. The armholes were then basted together, then I attached some bias binding made from the duchess satin (outer fabric), so the lining was now secure everywhere but the centre back seam, which would be finished later when attaching the zipper.

With the skirt, I sewed all the outer fabric seams (including pockets) and left to hang for a day or two, then did the same with the lining. Then, once the skirts had been hung, I lay the skirt pattern pieces back over them, and trimmed off any excess - this is done because some of the skirt is cut on the bias, which can stretch and warp, and you want to eliminate as much of that as possible before hemming in order to avoid a wonky hem. Once trimmed, I hemmed both the outer and lining skirt with a 5/8" narrow hem. Then I lined up the waist seam of the lining and outer fabric, wrong sides together, basted them together, then sewed them to the outer fabric of the bodice (not the lining). Then I attached an invisible zipper, turned up the bottom part of the bodice lining by 5/8" and slipstitched this to the skirt lining (making sure not to go through to the outer fabric). I didn't take any photos of this, so sorry if that doesn't make any sense at all!

As for my final thoughts, I'm really pleased with this one. I love the design and fit of the pattern (oh, should have mentioned before, I didn't need to make any fit alterations) and I think this fabric ended up working really well with it, giving it quite a subtle, sophisticated look. I guess the only real issue with this dress is that it ended up looking pretty formal, which does limit its practicality a little. I mean, I'm all for being overdressed, but this out-dresses all my other dresses, and most of them are pretty dressy, if you get what I mean. So, despite making this about 9 months ago, I've only actually worn it out once, which is a source of great shame to me, both because I love it, and because, as I probably keep ranting on about, I want everything I make to have wearability. I guess I'll just have to start turning up to things even more overdressed than usual...

P.S. As a bonus, here's some photos of me swishing about in the dress the one day I did wear it.