The Bubble Gum Belladone Vegas Dress

At the beginning of April I found myself between jobs by choice (I suppose I was technically unemployed.) I had over 4 weeks of outstanding vacation days at my old job so I decided that I could "afford" to sit around and do nothing for a week and a half before I started my new job. My husband and I entertained the idea of road tripping up the coast to the Bay Area and hitting up Hearst Castle and Carmel on the way, but the dates didn't really work out well with his schedule. And besides, I was secretly hoping to sew ALL WEEK LONG!!! The idea just sounded so heavenly!

So instead of an awesome road trip we decided to spend a couple days in Vegas, which still left me with about a week of free time to do as I pleased. I spent most of the days working out in the mornings, grabbing lunch at a new spot, and sewing. I primarily worked on the Deer and Doe Pavot Jacket, which took way longer than it should have only because I decided to finish the seams with handmade bias tape (gawd, that took forever!).

And then the day before we left for Vegas I decided that I should make myself a Vegas dress! Let me clarify for a sec. When I say "Vegas Dress" I'm not talking about a slutty dress, but rather something that I wouldn't normally wear everyday. I high-tailed it to Jo-ann Fabrics because I wanted something fairly inexpensive and I wasn't too concerned about making a high quality garment. I wanted something floaty, but instead settled on a pink bottomweight fabric. Then I found some gold metallic bias tape! GOLD! To me, nothing screams 'Vegas' more than GOLD!

I decided to use the Belladone Pattern from Deer and Doe, which is pretty conservative in the front, but the back is so wonderfully unexpected that I felt it was appropriate for the occasion. I made a muslin of the bodice since I knew the back would not fit on the first try. I tried to shorten the long edges since there was quite a bit of gaping, but I still don't think I have the pattern modified correctly. However, I was very short on time so I forged ahead. I stayed up so very late working on this dress and woke up early the next morning to finish it.

This dress looks like a total rush job up close, but I think it's passable from afar. The back neckline is totally messed up so I can't really wear this dress with the back neckline exposed. I didn't take any photos of the insides because that would pretty much be the equivalent of airing my dirty laundry. Trust me, the insides are not worth sharing....it's pretty embarrassing. I ran out of white serger thread midway through so only half of the seams are finished properly. I didn't have time to slipstitch the hem so I just machined stitched it; oh by the way, I completely forgot to buy thread that matches the fabric so I used a color that doesn't quite match the fabric, but I think it sorta coordinates. The top of the zipper is kind of a disaster. I really struggled with the best way to finish that part. Regardless, I had fun wearing this dress. And besides, I kept telling myself I would be in Vegas. There are a ton of people so messed up and poorly dressed that no one was going to notice the flaws with my dress. That was my sewing mantra as I powered through this dress: It's Vegas, no one will notice!

The instructions are pretty sparse, but I think the dress is easy enough that you don't really need that hand-holding. Just make sure you take the time to match up the back bodices pieces correctly. Double-check before you sew!

I definitely want to make the Belladone Dress again, but this time in a lighterweight fabric. Despite all the construction flaws I have actually worn this dress more times than any other dress I've made. In addition to wearing it in Vegas I also wore it for Easter brunch and to dinner to celebrate my 5th Wedding Anniversary! Hooray for marriage! I need to revisit my muslin first to make sure it fits properly in the back. Anyone have a good tutorial or hack job to get the back to fit better?