Renaissance and Rachel are both going to our church’s Spring Formal with their friends, and I decided to just throw sanity to the wind and make their dresses. I have been looking forward to making dance dresses ever since I found out Emily was a girl, but I’ve never been called upon to make dance dresses because right after Emily was asked to Spring Formal, the COVID shutdown went into place and everything was cancelled. She lost interest in school activities like that, even after things opened back up, and so she never went to any of the dances.

Ren and Rachel, however, are down with the whole formal dance thing and it’s been a lot of fun. I haven’t made any of their dresses yet because I was doing school and had no time for crafty pursuits, so I’m really grateful that I will get a chance to do these two dresses.

Renaissance’s Dress

I am wary of the pattern that she’s picked out because it’s got multiple princess seams all over the place, but if I can figure it out, it’s going to be gorgeous. I’ve already spent way too much time on her pattern because it was only available via PDF download and I had to print it out onto one hundred and twenty seven pieces of paper and then tape them together. It took four hours. I complained, bitterly, on Facebook and I was amazed at how many ride-or-die friends I have who joined me in my fury over the frustration of printing out this pattern.

A day or two later I was reading through Gertie’s newest book announcement on Instagram, and the inevitable comment kerfuffle over her decision to not include paper patterns with the book, when I noticed a comment about how you can send the A0 pattern files to a print center and have them printed out all nice and intact onto one huge sheet of paper like patterns normally come in when they’re sold in an envelope. I felt my heart slow and hiccup as I “remembered” that one of the options for printing out Ren’s dress pattern was A0, not A4 like I thought. And then I told all my friends at church about what an idiot I was.

But then I started writing this blog post and thought I should double-check that remembrance and NO, it was offered as an A4 size, not A0. I’m not an idiot!!! So…prior annoyance still stands. And yes, I do realize that the pattern is out of print and that’s why it’s only available as a PDF file…but really, I’d much rather it not have shown up in Renaissance’s internet searching for dress patterns if my only option was PDF. Something to remember for the future. Printed or A0 ONLY. None of this taping together of letter-sized papers for hours. Aaaand I need to go back to my church friends and recant my idiocy confession.

Ren’s dress is a contemporary pattern and will be sewn up in two different colors of silk—a color shifting indigo/purple dupioni called “Comet Tail,” and a solid orchid purple shantung called “Nolana,” both of which I purchased from Silk Baron. Oh my gosh, aren’t they the prettiest pieces of fabric?!?! I love to just hold them in my hands. And the lining is a gray silk/cotton batiste that I need to buy more of and turn into something I can use everyday because it is wonderful to touch and I need it in my life.

We have also purchased two rhinestone appliques to possibly attach to the dress, just in case the top of the bodice ends up looking too plain. AND I ordered silk thread to sew it all up, which is, weirdly, a really exciting thing for me because I’ve never ordered silk thread before. Whatever makes you happy, right?

Rachel’s Dress

She’s chosen a vintage pattern that just makes me shake my head because it’s so weird when you think about the dates of its publication and all sorts of other historical things that I’ll share with you later when it’s done. As with most republished vintage patterns, the actual sewing instructions are almost non-existent, so I’m guessing how some elements of this dress are going to go together and just hoping that my instincts are good. ‘Cuz that’s always an excellent recipe for success. (Some finger-crossing and optimistic-vibe-sending would be appreciated here…)

She’s picked out a lavender satin taffeta and a lilac organza from JoAnn Fabric that we picked up last weekend, and she’s hoping to add some sort of trim or applique to it. I think this particular dress will need the addition of some petticoats/crinolines to bring it to its full potential, so I’ve already ordered two to be safe. I was thinking I’d make them myself, but my timetable is super tight and I’d rather not stress about something like that.

And that’s where we are. Materials acquired and starting to add coal to the steam engine. Pretty soon we’ll be chugging along and I’ll have more to share with you