Little Black Dress Challenge

For the latest Fabricista Challenge, we were to be creative and make a little black dress for our perfect night out. We had to create a story that told where we were going and what we were doing in our dress.   All  the wonderful entries are posted at Fabric Mart Fabrics Blog  Check them out and vote for your favorite,

My mother was a big fan of the actress Audrey Hepburn. And I was born in the midst of her popularity. Hence my name. Several of the black dresses that Audrey Hepburn wore in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s ( 1961)  are famous. So how could I not use this challenge to make a dress from this movie?




Audrey Hepburn - Breakfast a Tiffany's

 One dress in particular, with a sleeveless fitted bodice and a pegged skirt trimmed in feathers, is featured in many books on "iconic" dresses. Two such books are targeted towards sewers.   Famous Frocks - Patterns and Instructions for Recreating Fabulous Iconic Dresses and Sew Iconic - How to Make 10 Classic Hollywood Dresses.

I used the pattern from the first book. Their variation of the dress has the gathered waist pegged skirt like the original movie dress. The bodice of their version has a cowl neckline. A much better style for me than the  scoop neck fitted version of the inspiration dress. And I just happened to have 4 yards of the most perfect feather trim in my stash.

I made the dress out of black wool challis. I chose this fabric to achieve a nice drape on the cowl neckline and soft gathers at the waist, but I was a little concerned a challis skirt would sag under the weight of the feather trim. Fortunately it did not, because the grosgrain tape that covered the quills of the feathers was a bit stiff .I thought the pattern was surprisingly well drafted. The cowl facing is slightly smaller than the cowl and acts as a stay to keep the cowl close to the chest, preventing gaposis. The skirt has shaping in the side and center back seam to achieve the pegged shape.

Fabulous Frock patterns are in 4 sizes,  XS (bust 31") to L (bust 37")   5/8" seam allowances are included in the pattern. However this info is buried in the sewing directions of the dress. The directions are basic and do not include any information on sewing the vent, inserting zipper etc.

Famous Frocks - Audrey Dress

cowl neck

Feather Trim

 

 

There are two rows of feather trim sewn to the bottom of the skirt. One two inches above the other.