Flappy Halloween

The Flapper Dress:

Yes, I actually wore this get-up to work on Friday. I got compliments, though. My co-workers seemed to like it well enough. A lady at the grocery store even told me I looked pretty authentic. I doubt she was around in the '20s though, so I'm going to take that with a grain of salt.

Anyway, on to the the sewing specs. I started with Simplicity 5190, a long OOP pattern for a very slight A-line dress with a V-neck and flutter sleeves. It's no longer available on the website, and I'm too lazy to scan it right now. It was designed for wovens cut on the bias, but I decided to go with this black knit with gold shimmer. I added one inch of length across the bust and eased the extra inch in at the side seams. To make it a "flapper" dress, I stitched three tiers of 4" chain fringe around the bottom. That's a total of about 5 yards of fringe, and guess what- it's heavy. I think it actually pulls the dress down about an inch, maybe an inch and a half. Oh, well, it's a Halloween costume, not a dress for everyday. In any case, I love the fringe! I noticed I had a little swing in my step all day and I just love the look and feel of all that fringe swishing around my knees! You can't really see it in the photo, but I topped off the top tier of fringe with a strip of holographic gold sequins to cover the header. I also added sequins around the V-neck and along the edges of the flutter sleeves. I completed the ensemble with black fishnet stockings, black T-strap shoes, a feather boa, beaded choker, and a headband made out of black ribbon embroidered with gold beads and thread.

Thankfully Halloween is over and I can get back to sewing "real" clothes. I had about a yard of the black and gold knit left over and I cut out Simplicity 4076, the scoopneck version with neckline gathers. We'll see how it turns out.