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Gothic Rose Smooth Ballroom Dress: Design

My current project is making a new ballroom gown for a competition in March. My theme has been gothic rose as mentioned in a post I made a year or so ago. 

Old design ideas

 So as you can see there were a few considerations for this theme and a new dress. Now that I have a dress and have made a few costumes, I know what cuts I like. Some of the tailoring elements for the dress that I like are: 

  • Godet Flared skirt
  • Off the shoulder wide neckline
  • Long sleeves
The aesthetics/theme that I was aiming for were: 
  • Gothic Colors
  • Dark
  • Roses

So my first order of business was finding a pattern. I know...I could draft my own but I don't. I found something I liked from Just Dance Patterns. 

Design 465
It has all the elements that I wanted. Off the shoulder neckline, godet skirt and long sleeves. I sent the pattern to a printer to get it printed on A0 paper...which is becoming a favorite thing for me to do now. 

But obviously, I need to make the dress a bit of my own design. Colors and design are where things get fun. I took some inspiration from Pinterest finds and came up with a few options below. 


Color and theme options
The first and more original idea was black and purple. But I really like how striking RED looks so I tried black and red combo. I also remember having a dress in  high school that was a navy blue or dark blue that looked awesome on me. So I thought I might try that as an option. However, I really wanted to stick with the "rose" theme so the night sky was set aside for now. And I like red on me so I went with red and black ultimately. 

For the bodice design I knew I need to dot it with rhinestones. The vague designs are meant to illustrate two decoration ideas. My original idea was using 3D rose lace and incorporate rhinestones. Alternatively, I have some rhinestone stencils in rose shapes that I could use. Currently, the plan is to use the 3D lace with rhinestones as accents. 

Fabric Choice

I've already got the fabric. According to the pattern, there are several components: the bodice, body suit, sleeves, and skirt. 

For the bodysuit I got some plain, performance spandex from JoAnn's. For the bodice I got a reflective spandex in black from JoAnn's. For the sleeves, I used leftover black power-mesh from my Morticia dress. For the skirt, I have one layer in red satin and two layers in red organza. The sleeve ruffles also include organza. 

At the moment, I have cut out the fabric pieces and pinned them to my dress form. I've done a bit of tailoring since I got the size that accommodates my hips and need to scale down the bodice around my bust.

I've sewn the side seams on the bodice and leotard and made the sleeves tubes. 
Next I'm going to tack in the bra cups on the leotard and baste the skirt panels. 

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