If you’re on Instagram, you might have seen me alluding to a seahorse dress I was making – well, it’s finally finished!
I was going to an end of year Christmas Party with a sea-theme and realised I had nothing to wear. Great reason to make something!
The pattern is Weigel’s 1593 – an Australian pattern, I’m thinking early-mid 1950s?
The dress is made in stretch cotton sateen – not my favourite fabric, but I needed something with body to make the skirt sit properly. I didn’t want to wear a petticoat as we’d be dancing and it’s very hot with more layers.
The skirt is more of a 3/4 circle than a full circle – it even has cute little gathers for some interest.
The only mods I made were:
- to remove the buttons down the front (cut on a fold),
- do a Full Bust Adjustment
- add some width to the waist
- lengthen the straps by about 1/3 of a inch.
Hairflower – made by me, Xmas flower from SpotlightBut the main amount of time was on those darn seahorses – they took forever! I used the seahorse template from a free knitting pattern I posted last month – the Novelty Seahorse Jacket.
They’re cut from felt, and hand-stitched around the hem (ten in all). They have diamantes for eyes, and the bubbles are large sequins with pearls in the centre. I repeated the bubbles on the bust for symmetry.
To get the bubble lines the same every time, I used a template to repeat the shape for each seahorse.
Would I make this again?
The dress itself was very easy, so perhaps. I do have plans for a similar skirt involving lobsters. LOBSTERS.
But I need to recover from this dress first.
Outfit:
- Shoes – Miss L Fire Luella
- Pearl jewellery – my Nan’s
- 1960’s wicker bag – found at a market.
No Comments
mel
December 20, 2015 at 7:38 amThis is awesome, makes me want to start on something time consuming, too^^
mel
December 20, 2015 at 7:38 amThis is awesome, makes me want to start on something time consuming, too^^
Helena
December 20, 2015 at 10:05 amBeautiful! Love love love the seahorses. Have a good party!
Jen
December 20, 2015 at 12:03 pmI am in love with your creative use of the seahorse template! The color and fit of the dress are marvelous!
Evie
December 20, 2015 at 4:25 pmThis dress is perfection!
Mugsy's in Stitches
December 20, 2015 at 9:47 pmMy goodness it's wonderful! LOVE seahorses!! Merry Christmas to you… 🙂
Mugsy's in Stitches
December 20, 2015 at 9:47 pmMy goodness it's wonderful! LOVE seahorses!! Merry Christmas to you… 🙂
Jessica Cangiano
December 21, 2015 at 10:36 amThis is officially, off-the-charts spectacular! What a stylish, adorable creation that looks positively stunning on you, sweet lady.
Big hugs & joyful holiday season wishes,
♥ Jessica
Tasha
December 21, 2015 at 3:26 pmLove this soooo much!! So worth the work (and I say this from experience, having just done a felt applique skirt). Crazily, I sewed up a vintage wrap dress pattern early last year that has pink seahorses on the fabric. 😉