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or "Purple Reign"  Yet another attempt to use up some of the fabric in my stash. It may seem like I have an obsession with the color purple, but in reality the fabric used for the skirt of this dress is left over from my Three-Toned Purple Gown. The lovely brocade for the top I found at a local Joanns and just had to have it! I bought a yard - just enough to do the bodice, bias tape binding, and possibly a cute little purse. :) Again, no idea where I'll wear it. Eh, details. ;)
Click the dress sketch for a larger picture. The Corseted Bodice
The bodice is a simple princess seamed top. I used the same pattern for it as my "Pretty In Pink" top, just not quilted or beaded. I left a few inches open in the back so there's a fashionable gap to show the ribbon lacing. When sewing the bodice together, I used fake flat felled seams which created channels for me to insert plastic boning into. I lined the bodice with a dark purple satin and instead of using ribbon loops for lacing, I found these great silver 'D' rings at Walmart.
Again, the top actually fits me better than my dressform so the gap in back is not quite so large. 
Left to Right: front, side back [up] [finished original] The Skirt
For the skirt, I used a little creativity. I only had a few yards of each color (light, medium, and dark purple) - not enought to do a complete skirt out of a single color, especially since I'm rather tall (45" from waist to floor). So instead, I decided to make a simple pleated skirt out of two of the colors by sewing rectangular panels together and then pleating them into a waistband. However, I still didn't have enough fabric to sew the panels together selvage to selvage (as seems to be the more popular way to construct a skirt like this). So, I simply cut the rectangles so that the selvage ran horizontal rather than vertical (my fabric being exactly 45" in width). The dark purple panel is twice a long as the medium purple panel and I inserted an invisible zipper into one of the seams for easy access. I pleated the skirt first on my dressform two different ways before deciding on the second method (with more of the medium color to the front than the sides). It's finished with a simple rolled hem and the waistband was created out of bias tape from the same dark purple satin as the majority of the skirt.
In the last picture, I just pinned the brocade fabric to my dressform so I could get an idea as to how the skirt and top would eventually look together. 
Left to Right: first pleating attempt front, side, back; second attempt side front, back, w/ brocade for top [up] [finished original] The Finished Ensemble
From the camera angle in the third picture, you can see the silver 'D' rings I found for lacing the top. When worn, these are not seen. :)
[up] Gallery Opening: "Ephemeral Elegance"
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