Constellation Dress

I've seen a lot of galaxy and constellation-print clothing over the past five to ten years.

 I really love this trend, and have been wanting to make something inspired by it. Unfortunatley it's difficult to find galaxy print locally, and buying it online tends to be very expensive. Last year I found this fabric by Timeless Treasures (on ebay):

 It's a beautiful deep blue with a pale, glow-in-the-dark constellation pattern. It was quite expensive, but I saved up and bought three yards, plus some scrap pieces from another seller. It arrived in a few weeks, and promptly sat in my room for about a year. 

Eventually  I got the momentum and motivation to make a dress from it. I made some designs last year, inspired by Alexander McQueen and Haenuli.

The Inspiration:

My sketches:

I went with a combination of the two designs, partly because I couldn't figure out how to construct a bodice similar to that of the McQueen dress.

The Pattern:

The bodice pattern is an altered Burdastyle one. I left the front the same, then changed the back significantly. The original idea was to have a shirred back, but I struggled with it so much that in the end I dropped that element. 

I drafted the skirt pattern myself. I only had 3 yards of material, which wasn't enough for a very full skirt. I made this into more of a panel skirt than a circle skirt.

I also made a pocket pattern. I love a dress with pockets, and wanted to include some in this design. 

Sewing the Dress:

To start, I made a mockup from cotton. I checked the fit, then cut out the lining. The lining is an old blue sheet and it's the perfect colour for this dress. 

I didn't take enough photographs while I was working, but I did take a few. I cut out the main fabric. I pinned it on my dress for to see how it would look. I shortened the bodice slightly, then started sewing all the seam and darts of the bodice.

I lined the bodice first. I was following Burda's instructions, and they recommended a method that I'd never used before. You sew the lining and main fabric at the neck and arm-scye (the shoulder seam is not stitched at this point), clip your seams, then turn it right side out and press everything. You then sew your shoulder seam. This isn't the best explanation of the technique, but the end result was very clean and crisp. I then attached the skirt lining to the bodice lining, and the main skirt to the main bodice.  

 After I added an invisible zip, I then hemmed the dress. I used very narrow horsehair braid to hem the skirt, using the sewing machine to initially sew on the braid, then stitching by hand to do a blind-hem stitch.