Grace Kelly: The Fabrics and the Pattern

Part I

While it’s inconclusive exactly what shade the original dress was, as it seemed a blush pink onscreen but coral in exhibition photos, I opted for a melon pink shade, which is somewhere between the two.

The original fabric seems to have been a wool crepe, possibly with two layers. This being Florida, and wool crepe being harder to find than poly, I opted for the latter, buying six yards of crepe georgette for the outer layers of bodice and skirt (they gave me closer to 6.5).

For the lining, there was a nearly matching lightweight knit on clearance, so I bought 5 yards. Well, they sent me 7.5…was it a case of Christmas in July?

I also picked out a yard of textured ivory dobby fabric (oh, yes, there was an extra half yard of this, too) which is a bit coarse, and a bit like an eyelet, with a minuscule pattern of punctures. I’ll use this to create the sleeves, possibly lined by that extra yardage of knit, or other remnants I have lying around.

From left to right: melon pink crepe georgette, salmon orange rayon jersey knit, and ivory texture cotton blend dobby fabric.

The embroidery will be done in a vanilla embroidery floss from Etsy, which happens to match the ivory dobby well! I acquired a total of 78 yards, because I have no idea how much I’ll actually need for all of that embroidery on the blouse. Except. . . in person it looks like will turn out to be far too little, so I expect to purchase more.

Vanilla embroidery thread.

Below is the current pattern. I’ve already made some changes to the measurements I originally put down for the skirt, edited here, so there may be other changes made in the remaining pieces.

The pattern.

Stay tuned for Part II, hopefully coming on the 30th, when I’ll have completed the skirt!

---

Thank you for reading! You can purchase the artwork from Windflower’s stories, such as the Silurian Crest, at the link below.

Windflower is fully supported by its audience. Instead of buying me a coffee, you can leave a donation which will go towards the purchase of fabric for interactive projects, where you’ll be able to vote on what historical dress or film costume I’ll recreate! Donations also help to continue creating Windflower’s content and to support the local Latin Mass.

Please consider subscribing and sharing with your friends. Thank you, and God bless!