The Art Deco Festival in Napier would not have been complete without a Hidden Speakeasy. We created a set of evening dresses for this mystery location and boarded the bus near the Deco Trust in Napier to arrive at a stunning winery at sunset. The night was filled with fabulous wine, jazz music from an era gone by and a secret (fictional) casino.
Erin's Beaded Dress
Fabric: Beaded Green from Home Craft Textiles
When thinking of evening fabric inspired by the late 1920s and early 1930s, a geometric beaded fabric comes to mind. Erin found this beautiful fan inspried beaded fabric online at Homecraft Textiles. They had a selection of deep jewel colours, and she selected the dark green.
As it was sheer fabric, she lined it with a matching premium crepe back satin also from Homecraft.
Pattern: Siciliy Slip dress by Sewing Patterns by Masin
The pattern Erin used for her dress was the Sicily Slip for its soft cowl neck and long line shape through the body.
It is designed to be cut on the bias and finished with a folded-over facing and thin straps.
For the beaded fabric we wanted to use the shaped beaded hem so it was cut on the straight but as it was a tulle backed fabric it draped nicely.
Finished Project
Lauren's bronze drape dress
Fabric: Sunrise Sequin jersey
When looking at the Maker Society website, we can came across the fun bronze metallic fabric that was deadstock from Manning Cartell. It was a polyester, spandex and nylon, while we usually lean towards natural fibres, the metallic finish was perfect for this occasion.
It was a two-way stretch base with all-over sequins; this finish meant that it restricted the stretch of the base fabric. The fabric was named “Sunrise Sequin jersey” on the website, and this was a perfect description as when it arrived we found it had more depth of colour and a slight rainbow effect as it moved around.
Pattern: Vogue 2110
This Vogue 2110 was released last year and it caught our eye. What was interesting was it was designed for a jersey fabric. The dress design is a draped halter style gown with a plunging V-neckline, twist, and crisscross open back, and an invisible back zipper.
We did modify the back bodice panel to lift the opening up to the waist.
Finished Project
Photo Credits
Fabric: Beaded green fabric and matching premium crepe from HomeCraft Textiles and Sunrise Sequin jersey from Maker Society
Patterns: Siciliy Slip from Sewing Masin and Vogue 2110
Photos by: James Christie Media
