I remember “designing” my ideal prom dress back in 1995 and it looked something like the dress I just finished. I’ve always been drawn to lace and sheers, something I adopted from my mom- she loves it too. I feel like a combination of Joan from Mad Men , Jessa from Girls and Elizabeth Taylor this dress.

I ended up only using the bodice and yoke pieces of the Macaron Pattern by Colette and as usual it was easy to use, with clear instructions. In retrospect I should have used one size smaller, but my muslin fabric didn’t have the same stretch as my cotton sateen and lace I used in the final garment. Noted for next time. I also measured the pattern pieces individually to select my size- a much more thorough practice than using the sizing chart in the back.

For the skirt part, I drafted a pattern for a pencil skirt that are based on this tutorial. I love me a good pencil skirt, and I love the addition of the peplum- which hides my baby-pouch-lower-belly-goodness. Hailing from the 40s, revived in the 80s and now really trendy, the peplum has charmed many lower tummy challenged women, including this one.

I turned to our fitting goddess Suzanne for some upper body fit issues and some encouragement during the invisible zipper stage, which broke- but discovered that I could fit it over my head without the opening!  YAY for no zipper!