The Story of a DIY Bridesmaid Dress

Last year, one of my best friends asked me to be her bridesmaid and told me she was going with the color of teal.  After searching what seemed like a zillion bridal websites for a dress, I gave up.  It seemed that teal was not popular enough of a color to make in many different styles of dresses.  That said, most of the dresses available were very plain silhouettes (plain strapless or plain strapped) for $200 and up.  I pondered this for a bit and decided to try and tackle making one myself (keep in mind this was waaaayy before sewing any of the other things in this blog).  I figured that if it turned out to be an utter fail, I could always buy one a few months before the wedding.

Let me tell you, there was a lot of seam ripping involved with this one.  My small top made it difficult to really follow the pattern properly without making a lot of allowances and the waist is a bit too wide but all in all, I felt like it passed for a decent bridesmaid dress using only ~$20 in materials (and blood, sweat, tears).  Basically, I took a basic strapless dress pattern (McCall's 5806) and then set off trying to figure out how to make it more interesting.  I settled on a modified ruffle that I snake-pathed across the bust and up one shoulder.

 Sorry for the teeny, tiny pictures!  They were the best I could do from the online proofs.  What do you think?  Pass or fail?

GIVEAWAY: Mixed Media Pearl Necklace

It's time for my first ever giveaway!!  :D  This is a variation of the necklace I posted about below with gold glass pearls, matching gold satin ribbon, bronze chains, and various charms.  The ribbon is long enough to vary the length from choker to mid-torso.

All you need to do is publicly Follow my blog (go to my sidebar on the right and click "Follow") and fill out the form below.  I'll randomly choose a winner on November 15th.

A close-up view:

Want to make your own instead?  Check out my tutorial here.