It was love at first sight when I saw this 1953 Pierre Balmain dress.
My attempt at recreating the pose.
I studied the original dress' photos and tried to figure out how the dress was made.
My biggest challenge was making the chiffon bodice.
I also wanted to try my hand at dying white nylon lace.
I didn't have to dye this pink lace, I was thrilled to find this lace at JoAnn Fabrics.
Nylon is a synthetic fiber, but it falls into the natural fiber category for dying. It picks up the dye quickly and it was tricky figuring out how long to leave the lace in the water. I used yellow and tan dye to get this color.
I loved the yellow dress so much, I kept a copy for myself.
This blue was a lot harder to dye. I ended up with a yard of a lovely blue lace that was nowhere near the color of the chiffon and satin. I plan on using it later for something else. The blue of this lace actually changes color depending on the lighting. Sometimes it looks spot on, other times it looks a little too green, and other times it looks a little too purple.
To make the lace hem, I rough cut out the lace flowers and Fray-Checked the edges and then cut the flowers out. The flowers were then hand sewn to the bottom of the lace skirt.
I also made an adorable white lace wedding dress.
While I was making the lace dresses, I started wondering what the dress would look like in a cotton print. I ended up loving this design in a floral.
To purchase this pattern, click here.
