New Look 6058 has a camisole top that I’ve loved for some time and this is formal dress that I created and wore at a family wedding.

The fabric is a piece I bought in Taiwan in 2019 with Raquel who took me to the fabric markets there. I bought this piece for this special occasion.

Granted, this is a camisole top pattern but I worked with this pattern on 3 earlier garments to get this dress version right, so I could place the brocade peacock in the right place. I was reluctant to cut this great fabric but you have to do it sometimes and do the best that you can.

The peacock has 1 dart just on its chest but it didn’t damage the bird’s shape significantly.

On the first version, I made the top in a cotton and figured out how I needed to place the straps and adjust the under arm part of the top.
On the second version, I made a full length dress that was fully lined. The base of the dress wasn’t shaped in any way but this third version had a better shaped skirt part.
On this version a sewing friend helped me level the hem and told me to lower the neckline. So after a lot of unpicking and hand stitching, I was able to achieve this dress.

If you have a close look at the back of the dress, I had to piece the solid green fabric to only have the brocade above my waist and just off centre.

The side splits were something I had to do because I wanted to be able to walk easily – and dance of course.

On this version, the dress is fully lined in a black cotton medium weight fabric from my stash. The invisible zipper was also from my stash. I tend to purchase notions in colours that I know I will use some time in the future. In this case, I’ve had this fabric in my stash for 3 years now but the memories of when I bought it and now the memories of when I wore it, cannot be forgotten.

Making your own clothes is a great skill to have. Being able to make special one-off garments is even better to do.