Gown for the Marine Corps Ball - Part I

Attending the Marine Corps Birthday Ball every year can be quite spendy.  The dress, the shoes, the hair, not to mention the cost of the ticket!  Your first thought would be that the men get off easy, wearing their uniforms, but that isn't usually the case.  Every year so far, we have had to purchase something new for the Hubby -  a new set of pants, maybe a new blouse, or he's received a new medal, which means they all need to be re-mounted. Remember back, to how much Prom cost?  This is relatively similar, but then you also pay for your drinks too!

Now, a little secret is:  Most wives can get away with owning 4 gowns.  You wear one a year for the 4 years at your current duty station, and then you move, and can wear the four gowns again, for the next 4 years.  But having babies can really put a hiccup in that plan.  I have 2 dresses, pre-baby, that are WAY too small, and one is too large, as it was worn less than 4 months after having baby E. I suppose I could wear the gown I made in 2011, but to be honest, I really didn't care for how that dress came out. (see the pale pink number below) And since we were at this unit last year, I obviously can't wear the same dress!!!

I decided to be as frugal as possible this year.  I had an idea in my head, of what I wanted the dress to look like, I just needed to find the fabric....

Going through my fabric stash, I found the pale pink satin remnant from my 2011 gown, modeled here with the lovely Hailley :)

 

 

 and the pattern I used for part of my 2012 gown.... 

 

I played around with the chunk of fabric quite a bit, decided I could make it work, and then headed out to the fabric store to find everything else I would need.   I stumbled upon a really pretty black fabric that had flowers embroidered along the bottom with some sequins mixed in.  Unfortunately, there wasn't quite two yards left (I thought I might barely be enough for what I wanted) and some of the sequins were missing along the bottom edge. I talked them in to discounting the fabric by 50% (plus it was already on sale) and just bought a cheap pack of sequins to replace the missing (seriously took my 10 minutes to fix it).

 

I also bought some tulle, and a few more beads for adding to the fabric, as well as a zipper and whatnot.  I came away only spending $17.00!  (and I may not even needed everything I bought!)  As soon as I got home, I grabbed my sketchpad and got my idea on paper.  Once I reveal the final outcome I will include my drawing, so you can see it from concept to final product.

 

 

Time to get started!

I knew that to make the pink satin work, I was going to need to alter the pattern to get everything to fit.  The pattern had a line marked that you can use to lengthen (or shorten) the pattern.  I added a seam allowance on either side of it, and cut, creating an empire waistline.

 

 The lining laid out in order...

 E came to see how I was doing and immediately posed when he saw the camera....  :)

 I also decided that the bodice needed a little extra fabric, to stiffen it up.  (I didn't think to buy interfacing, so  I just used a remnant of white cotton I had on hand.  (worked well, but did make my seams a bit thick.

 

 

 Bodice together. 

 

One other change I made, was to place the zipper in the side seam under my right arm instead of the center back of the dress. (You will see why, once I work the black fabric into the dress).

I then sewed the skirt pieces together and attached....  But I forgot to take a picture!!!


... Stay tuned for Part II....