No Such Thing as Subtlety

At least not when it comes to Latin Competition dance dresses. I will say that the second incarnation is going more smoothly than the first, but this is the dress that scares worries the bejeezus out of me. I decided to make it a real two-piece, rather than covering up her midriff. The skirt is going to be considerably less solid lycra and considerably more sequinned than the original version. It's also going to be a lot shorter than the original. Not Edyta short, but short. I've got the skirt/panty combination together. Today I cut out the ruffles. Tatiana wasn't really happy with the original ruffle, which was not quite a half circle.

The original ruffle was graduated in length, from about 4 inches in the front, going down to 8 inches at the center back. When she put it on, I thought it looked a little too "Mermaids on Parade" - like one of Bette Midler's backup singers. Not what I was going for. So this time I made two circular ruffles, each about 7 inches wide. To make the ruffles for this dress, the circle was 14 inches in diameter, with a 5 1/2 inch circle cut out of the center. Two of those are the perfect size to fit around the hem of the skirt, which measures 37 1/2 inches. Yes, I calculated it out beforehand. Finally I put my college math major to use!

Now, I have to ask you, how tacky is this material? My tack-o-meter is flying off the scale.



But, being the trouper that I am, I bucked up and got in the mood by watching Episode 2 of "RuPaul's Drag Race" (thanks, TLo!). There's nothing like a bunch of drag queens competing in girl-group lip synch contests to amp up my tack quotient. Well, that or maybe a couple of Mojitos. Anyway, the back of the sequinned fabric really needs some backing to cover the exposed stitching, so I cut another pair of circles out of some perfectly matching lycra mesh that LindsayT picked up for me.

Right now, the mesh and the sequins are sewn together and I'll apply them to the skirt tomorrow. Then I'll get working on the bra and the drape. I'd like to have this finished by the weekend, so Tatiana can try it on and we can make adjustments. The competition is the weekend of the 21st. So that's where it's at. Hopefully I'll have more to show tomorrow. You know, for all that I tell everyone that I hate sewing for other people (and I do), I'm actually enjoying these two dresses. They are different from anything I've ever done before, especially this dress, and it's nice to have a challenge.

Happy sewing!