Butterick 5871 Sequin Dress
Hello Dear Friends;
Yes, I may being a little premature bringing out the sequins when there is still almost 3 months to go until Christmas. But, before Christmas, it is my birthday. In November. And before that we also have to move house. And basically, this dress is a back-up dress (and a delaying tactic) to sewing my actual birthday dress. More on that to follow.
Butterick 5871 Sequin Dress
Yes, in this light the dress looks a little see through, but I am unlikely to ever wear this in broad daylight. Also, what is the best light to shoot sequins in?!
Butterick 5871 Sequin Dress
Here are the details:
I have made this dress before. Here.
This time around I added 2 inches to the length of the front bodice, the sides, and tapered to nothing at the centre back. I also added 1.5 cm to all the side seams to allow for the fact this fabric doesn’t really have any stretch to it.
Like last time, I bagged the lining, so there was no need to sew any potentially wonky hems. I ended up binding the waist seam with some satin bias binding I had in my stash (avoiding scratchy sequins against my skin) and sewed the binding to the dress to create a casing.
I also only shortened the lining by 1.5 cm this time (not as much as last time).
Overall, I am much happier with the fit. My only regret is not taking a bit of excess fabric out of the back neckline.
Butterick 5871 Sequin Dress
Sewing this particular sequinned fabric was easy. First off the sequins are baby sequins, measuring around 1/8th inch. Second, I used a jeans needle to sew the fabric. I chose this particular pattern because I knew I could bag the lining out, avoiding the need to sew hems, there are no closures or sleeves to set in. Also, I pressed the fabric from the wrong side using a medium iron and my silk press cloth.
Butterick 5871 Sequin Dress
So that’s it from my end today. I am pleased with this dress. It took hardly any time to whip up and I needed a quick make after my last make (in which I was pattern testing for a project which took a considerable amount of time). I think that this will be a great dress to have on hand for the festive season. Just pull it on and go. What about you? Are you already thinking ahead to Christmas (or have you only just got started on autumn sewing?)
Until soon…
Butterick 5871 Sequin Dress
sewmanju 
That is one sexy dress:) Go ahead and wear it; don’t save it for Christmas! I loved the first one you made of this pattern, too.
Thanks angela.
Very nice “little black number”… always good to have!
Thanks Janet.
Love this on you! It doesn’t look very see-through from here, maybe just at the hemline.
Thanks amanda. Yeah mainly at the hemline.
Oh it’s beautiful!
Thanks Amanda.
All I got from that was “….moving house”… AGAIN? *shocked face*
(but seriously, this has to be THE most perfect festive dress. ever).
Ha thanks ange. Yep have bought a house so hoping to move within the next 3 weeks. Hopefully this is going to be our forever home and I will have a nice big sewing space 🙂
Oooh that’s a bit special. Stunning! It’s the perfect LBD but sparkly. I never think to use sequins.
Thanks Debbie.
Wow, looks great!
Thanks csewit.
Again you look fabulous. Very brave to sew with sequins, i’m put off sewing with these due to all the sequin removal along the sew line before machining or did you just sew through them?
Hi Karen. Yes because my sequins were so tiny I did not remove any. I think it really depends on the kind of sequins your working with and always do a test on your machine first!
What sequin fabric would you recommend for a ‘sequin sewing beginner’?
Hi karen hope you see this. The sequin fabric I used had sequins measuring approx. 1/8th inch so they were tiny and all sewn to a non stretch (or only mechanical stretch) mesh. I would say look for small sequins on mesh with no stretch. And use the tips I gave in the blog post about needle size etc. oh, and don’t use good dress making scissors to cut. I would recommend if possible getting a sample and testing on your machine before committing to buying if your really worried. But honestly I think you will be surprised once you try it.
Thankyou!
Wow-that looks great! I will seriously have to think about some sequins myself sometime. I am slowly making my way out of summer-is-over-denial. So yes, maybe it is time to think about the holidays, and then I won’t be so sad about it!
Thanks Jenny. Autumn is most definitely here for us!
Oh la la! What a gorgeous dress, you look ready to party:)
Thanks Wendy.
That is so beautiful, a smashing party dress too! I am intrigued by just how you bag-lined both dresses. I hope you do a tutorial on that someday.
Thanks zibergirl.
You look stunning! Great dress and great choice of fabric. I hope you get to wear it a lot, because you are one hot number in it! How do you find the time to sew so much?
Thanks Leah. Every Sunday I have the day too myself pretty much as my daughter goes for lunch and sleepover to my mums and my husband has a nap after lunch as he goes to work the evening. So Sunday’s I do my cutting out/ prep. Then every evening during the week I have an hour to sew whilst my little girl watches her cartoons before bedtime. So I have a routine. And of course being a stay at home mum right now helps 🙂
It’s gorgeous on you!!
I am definitely sewing for fall. Definitely!
Thanks nakisha.
Looks AMAZING! My sequin dress was see through… and I didn’t think it mattered until my husband took a photo with a flash…. I wear a slip with mine 😉
Hmmm thanks for the tip lizzy!
Very glamorous! This style looks fab on you, you really do know what suits you.
Thanks sam.
This looks great on you! Sewing sequins is a bit intimidating for me, but after seeing how well you did with this, I may give them a try.
I haven’t started on my Holiday sewing, but it is on my mind. I too will be moving soon (only about 600 miles away from my current location), and I don’t want to be in the middle of all that and having to think about what I am going to wear to Holiday parties and what have you!
Thanks Alicia. Hope your move goes well.
glamorous – you are ready for the festive season.
Thanks Beth.
Very glam! I love the gold belt with it. It’s unexpected and yet works very well.
Wow! So fancy, so exciting — what a great dress! And thanks for the tips on sewing with sequins; so very helpful. You are a total hottie in this dress, definitely wear the heck out of it!
Thanks Ebi.
Perfect pattern to showcase this lovely sequinned fabric. Lovely dress.
Thanks Jean margaret
Oh my gosh. That dress is the perfect party dress. Sure it’ll be great fun to wear on your birthday!