The Dressmaker: Christmas Dress - Mystic Rose
Am I writing this last minute because I made edits to the dress today? Did I get distracted before finishing this post so I could show my best friend all my Christmas presents? (Yes.)
This is actually a dress I sewed last December, and it’s one of my favorites and the most functional of the dresses I’ve made so far. I name all of my dresses, so that people will eventually know which one I’m talking about without my explaining “the red 1980’s-style dress with the rose buttons, etc.,” every time, so this one is “the Mystic Rose.”
I drew up the pattern based on a bright cobalt blue 1980’s dress I thrifted perhaps seven years ago, which is currently my favorite dress to wear. This original, however, is made of what I believe is a rayon challis, though it’s somewhere between the texture of broadcloth and the modern rayon challis I bought recently.
The Mystic Rose’s fabric is, I believe, because I bought it years ago and I had to dig through my chats to find a reference, a crepe suiting. It’s fairly thick and has some stretch to it, so I think of it as more of a knit with crepe texture. It was pretty tricky to sew, and I think this was my first stretch-fabric project. It was frustrating, and yet it’s still my favorite most-actually-worn dress? I don’t know how that works.
I changed the sleeves from the original 1980’s dress to be a bit more vintage-style leg o’ mutton (yes, it’s a weird name! See a moderate vintage example on the vintage sleeve chart here - these sleeves appear to be from the 16th century originally, but I think of them as 19th century).
The rose buttons on the waist panel are from Hobby Lobby, but being a matte white plastic, they seemed a bit flat on their own. I took some metallic gold paint and loosely gilded them, and then carried the gold into the trellis patterns on the sides of the skirt.
This design came about because the side seams were angling towards the back, so I balanced it out with the trellis, and I’m actually happy with that scenario! I used a sparkly gold organza ribbon for the trellis, which is not the best choice due to fraying - I need to replace one of them still.
Up until this past week, I had faux pink cherry blossoms and leaves sewn to the trellis (I preferred them to the roses I had on hand last December). Those also fray after being in the wash too many times, since they aren’t meant for sewing. I plan to eventually make my own pink fabric roses and leaves to replace them, but for now, I replaced the leaves and picked up some light pink rhinestone floral buttons from Hobby Lobby, attaching one on each side. I also used some darker pink rose buttons, but they were heavier and clanked loudly if I brushed up against anything, which would be bad for Mass, so I took them off at the last minute on Christmas Eve!
For the rest of my Christmas outfit, I wore my Evenstar pendant, as one does; a pretty, longer ivory lace skirt underneath the dress to add some white and extra length, as I like to do to change up a dress; and I added a capelet, because why not?
I wore the capelet before in 2020, when I was just learning to sew. Actually, all I did was take apart a skirt I had that didn’t work for me, cutting out the lining for fabric and then mostly cutting open the front of the outer layer, which seems to be a crepe or georgette. It has some rose-like embroidery and beading on one side, and this year I added some heart-shaped lace trim, to cover the raw edges. I mostly wore it thrown back, as it shifts out of place. Adding a pin or brooch would help with this, though I prefer having it thrown back in this way.
I hope you enjoyed this bonus design post! Stay tuned for the next dress post this coming week, on (finally!) the recreation of Grace Kelly’s costume from To Catch a Thief.
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This is a beautiful dress! I especially love the capelet.
This is a glorious gown!