The Little Black Dress

They say every woman should have a little black dress in their closet.  And I finally have one in mine!

I must admit, I have been planning this dress for quite a while - first looking for the right pattern, then waiting for the perfect black silk dupioni to appear in my favorite discount fabric store, then testing the pattern my making a muslin out of some cheap dupioni, and finally overcoming my fears and cutting into my beloved black silk.


I only have a few pictures right now (I just finished the dress) but I know I will owe some detail shots a bit later.  The dress is made from Vogue 8532, an easy Vogue pattern that is now discontinued.  As I said above, the outer is made in a black silk dupioni.  The inside is fully lined in black silk batiste.


I do love the collar on this dress.  The dupioni was lovely to sew - it is so stable!  The only problem I faced was how much it frayed - into little black wisps that got everywhere!

I am so glad I did the fitting first - even though I made very few changes.  I originally planned to make the dress with sleeves, but the muslin showed me that the sleeves would be very stiff and restrict movement.

But it was a very simple dress to assemble - only 5 pattern pieces!  I changed the construction order a bit to make the dress easier to sew and easier to alter later if necessary (since I plan on keeping this dress for a long time).

So, now that I have finally filled a void in my closet, is there anyone else still waiting on the perfect pattern/fabric for their LBD?