The Silk Worm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For me, Net-a-Porter.com is a little slice of heaven. I cannot imagine how wonderful it would be to swan around the stock rooms, running my hands along the rails of exquisite fabrics, the silks, the cottons, the leather….it has been a website which I have loved ever since I discovered it some years ago. But enough of that, I came to the conclusion that even though I did not have the money to fund such expensive pieces of clothing, then I should just make them myself. Not copy, but just use certain designers as an inspiration.

The moment I glanced at that page, this dress by Roksanda Ilincic jumped out at me. I think it was perhaps the colour combination. I have loved mint all my life~ice cream, chocolate, tiny mint china cups…the purple trim sneaking out from beneath the layers of cascading silk, in contrast with the creamy skirt and jet black bodice….. I knew if I couldn’t have the £920 real deal then I must create my own…and it was actually quite simple!

I found a basic dress pattern, shoulder less with a pencil skirt, and couldn’t believe my eyes when there, in the fabric bargain bin lay the exact fabrics which I needed….a liquidy teal blue and a thick biscuit cream. I started by creating the base of the dress, sewing the cream skirt to the black bodice and then attaching the silk purple strip at the waist. Next was the task of pleating the blue silk so that is draped across the bodice…this was the difficult part! I decided, after much deliberation that I would fashion my own, slightly scrunched adornment out of the hanging fabric instead of having a Roksanda style train at the back. I sort of did this part as I went along…I am not one for planning, and I really don’t have the patience for testing out different techniques, so I sort of tried gathering it with random stitches and it luckily worked!

 

dress by Roksanda Ilincic~swoon…..