SEWVEE: The Butterfly and Gold Thingy

You'll have to forgive me; I just got back from my best friend's wedding, and I am recovering from the giddy heights of the weekend. I keep spontaneously bursting into tears - I'm STILL in full blown hysteria. So this post might be a little incoherent!

It was one of the most fantastic weekends of my life. I am black and blue all over, and I cannot get my feet clean. Signs of a bloody wonderful night. Those guys can plan a wedding! Of course, I couldn't let the day pass without some sewing for the big day. I had the absolute pleasure of making four bridesmaid dresses, with matching clutch bags and confetti bags as well as a cathedral veil, a garter, slippers and an eye mask for the bride. Blog post to follow!

For now, I've got a dress to share with you that I made for the meal the night before the wedding: The butterfly and gold thingy. The dress was named by Linda P on instagram (Daisy creates in Sussex). Does what it says on the tin!

So here she is!

I found this stunning fabric from Empire Textiles. I think this my favourite wax fabric yet. I love the colours, the massive print and of course, the gold embroidered stars. The butterflies are about 30cm across. I think this a personal best for ridiculous scale on a SEWVEE dress!

If you love this print I have ONE crop top made from it on my etsy shop in a size 10! Find it HERE. Plus bow ties for the chaps HERE.

I altered my bodice block by lowering the back and front neckline. I had a few attempts at this to get the pretty shape I wanted. I then moved the bust dart to the waist to avoid breaking up the print. I was little lazy and skipped the toil phase and just cut straight into my lining. I sewed it up and basted the side seams to check the fit. I lowered the neckline a little at this point - I always find it hard to judge when flat. Then after a deep breath, I cut into my beautiful fabric. I knew I wanted a butterfly flitting across my chest so I played around with the pattern placement for a LONG time.

This is what I settled for.

The bodice sewed up pretty quickly, and I was already head over heels! Next, the skirt. I love the skirt on my Peacock dress so much I didn't even think twice about the shape I wanted for this one (You can read about the Peacock dress here). Plus I had already drafted the pattern, and I was beside myself with excitement to finish her! I went for French seams and a Hong Kong finish at the zip as always. Finally, I finished the hem with the SEWVEE standard - a bias binding facing in a contrast navy blue. It gives the skirt such a lovely shape and hang.

Pretty happy with my pattern placement at the waist seam.

Pattern matching is a little off on the back but as it is just for me
and I can't see that back I didn't re-do it!

No worries here...

Sneaky side eye.

Pockets in dresses are now a complete must have for me. I am never out of dresses and before I could sew I'd begrudgingly wear jeans when I needed to wear something more practical. No need now! I made a little video tutorial on my Instagram showing how to insert pockets with a French seam if you fancy a look.

I didn't quite have enough fabric to pattern match down the skirt seam as I had promised myself a circle skirt out of this fabric too. I managed to cut either side of the butterflies and altered the pattern so I had a super small seam allowance to prevent losing as much of the butterfly wings as possible.

Looking casual with a bench.

This dress isn't exactly the kind you pop down to the supermarket in (although I doubt that'll stop me!), therefore I fancied something I could wear every day in this AMAZING fabric too. I went for a simple half circle skirt. I really have worn it everyday!