This is the brand new Charm Patterns Starlet Gown available on their Pattern. Rarely am I able to make something this soon after it comes out, but I had a holiday party with the theme “old Hollywood” and this was perfect so I managed to tape the pattern, get it cut out and sewn in just 3 days. I’m so pleased with how it turned out, but this dress fought me every step of the way (the dress, not the pattern; the pattern is actually really straightforward and well done).
I was originally going to modify the Society Dress. I had some great teal sequin fabric in my stash that I was going to use, but it’s semi-sheer so I needed to find a lining. I wanted satin, but Joann’s and the local fabric stores had nothing and all the places I would usually order from couldn’t get me swatches in time. It’s a very pretty emerald green, but hard to match. I did finally find something that matched well and had the right stretch but wasn’t satin. By this point in searching, the Starlet gown came out so I decided to switch gears. I taped up the pattern, made my height adjustments and grading between sizes and went to cut it out.
And I was short about 1/4 yard of fabric.
I just couldn’t make it work even with all my amazing fabric Tetris skills. So I switched over to the same fabric but in burgundy (yes, I know, my stash is abundant to say the least). Still pretty. Again, went for a search for lining. Again struck out. But this time I was at Joann’s and found this gold liquid type stuff that I ended up getting. They call it gold slinky foil crepe. There was also a bronze color that was quite pretty, but I really wanted gold. In many ways this would be easier since I would only need one layer unlike the sequins which required 2, one for the sequins and one for the lining since the sequins were on a semi-transparent mesh.
But of course there was less than the recommended amount.
I decided to go for it anyways. What did I have to lose? I was going to go with my backup Society Dress that I’d already made if this didn’t work.
The kind lady at the cutout at Joann’s tried to explain to me that I had to cut it with nap if it had sparkle when I made the mistake of mentioning to her that I could make the reduced amount work since I wouldn’t need to worry about nap with this fabric. While that may be true for some fabrics, it was not the case for this one and I challenge you to tell me which pieces were cut in a different direction. She spent quite a bit of time telling me all the different ways I could adjust the pattern to make it fit on the fabric. I nodded and thanked her and while I appreciate the thought, I really just wanted to get out of the store. I had already spent so much time deliberating — I even called my mom to discuss options with her — that I was tired and ready to go home.
I got home, washed the fabric and got started. Cutting went smoothly, but pressing was where this dress once again fought back. When I tested the iron on the fabric, it pressed fine. Perhaps the iron hadn’t heated fully for the test. I’m not sure. But when I started to actually press the seams, suddenly I had an iron shaped area that was visibly different. I tried to show the difference in the photo above but the camera doesn’t capture it well. On the left is the “natural” version of the fabric which is a bit more gold and shiny. On the right is the dress which has been pressed. The steam in particular seemed to change the texture of the foiling.
It actually made it looked more antiqued, so I decided to lean into it and just iron everything to ensure it looked cohesive. I’m actually really pleased with how it turned out and the antique-y look went better both with this theme as well as making it more wearable elsewhere.
Otherwise, the sewing went smoothly. It’s a straightforward pattern and the gores of the skirt actually make the skirt a bit easier to put together than the skirt of the Society Dress. The only complicated part which wasn’t that complicated was the yoke at the back of the skirt since it requires sewing a V.
I did a stay stitch at just under 5/8” around the v itself and clipped into it which made sewing the V itself quite easy, even with a zig zag stitch.
For the long vertical seams of the skirt, I just sewed everything together with the serger. It’s fast and, of course, works great for knits. For areas like the V and where I was going to grade seams on the bodice, I used a narrow zig zag on the regular machine. This also meant it was easy to remove the stitches if I needed to.
Some notes about the bodice:
In the pattern they have you put a quarter in the pocket of the cowl which was a nice way to keep it from popping out. A quarter was plenty heavy for me, but you may want something even heavier like a washer.
I did my understitching on the neckline and back edges with a straight stitch since I didn’t actually want them to stretch and I knew there wouldn’t be tension on them that might cause the stitching to pop. I did my understitching around the armholes which I thought might want more give with the narrow zig zag.
The bodice calls for a lining. I wanted a fabric of similar weight to the outside which is fairly thin and slinky . . . so I just used the outside fabric since I had enough. I turned it inside out so that the smooth black touched my skin. It worked great!
The most complicated part for me was the waist seam. I was pretty sure I’d need a swayback (standard for me on most patterns) so I basted the front and then I’d figure out the back. You want the point where the back pieces meet to line up exactly with the point in the yoke. So I found the center back and got everything pinned.
Then I veeeerrrry carefully tried it on, avoiding poking myself with pins. And my waist was way low. This was because the fabric I’d chosen had vertical stretch. The pattern calls for fabric without vertical stretch. Normally I would have had a muslin to test all this out on, but this was effectively my muslin. I mean, technically, but not really since I was fully intending this to be a real dress.
I pinched out how much I needed which was about 1.25”. I very often have to remove at least an inch but this was pretty slinky fabric so I’m not surprised it was more. Then I took out all that plus the 1/2” swayback I also pinched out at the back. All this time making sure that the two back sides matched at the point of the seam and also matched the center point of the yoke. Phew! Then I basted with just a straight stitch and tried it on. We were good!
I serged that edge so it stayed stretchy and reduced bulk at the waist.
But I had one more adjustment to make to the waist. Now that I had it all adjusted, the waist of the dress sat at my natural waist. However, due to the nature of the fabric it didn’t really go in at my waist. It more just skimmed over and I wanted it to hug my body. So I added clear elastic which I held taught as I zigzagged it to the seam. I used the clear elastic because it’s strong but thin and I didn’t want to add bulk at the waist seam. I also did it on the side that wouldn’t touch me so it would be more comfortable. This pulled in the waist and gave me the look I wanted.
The last step was adding the chains on the back. I had to run to mall to get some undergarments to wear with this and while I was there, I picked up some necklaces at Macy’s that were on sale. The the one on the right was $8 and the one on the left was a multi-layered one that was $12. The left was too much, but the right was good and didn’t distract from the dress. I cut up the necklace with some jewelry snips and sewed it on.
Very happy with how it turned out and I finished with enough time to get ready and get to the party.
I felt pretty glamorous all night! Definitely one of my better “muslins” ? This is a fast and easy dress now that I’ve worked out all the fitting details so I have no doubt I’ll reach for it when I need something quick again in the future.
Here’s a summary of the changes I made to get the fit that was just right for me:
- Graded from a 4 at the bust to 6 at the waist/hips. This is standard for me in Charm Patterns patterns.
- Shortened the skirt at the lengthen/shorten line by 2”. I wanted the flare to hit around my knees so that’s why I shortened it above the knee. The fabric did not require a hem, but I could hem it about 1/2” if it needed one.
- Removed 1.25” at the waist of the bodice to account for vertical stretch and pull of the skirt.
- 1/2” sway back adjustment (in addition to above).
- Added clear elastic at the waist to draw it in.
