The wedding guest dress

I'd been looking for a suitable dress to wear for a spring wedding for a while. I was both overwhelmed by the choice of options but uninspired by the patterns and colours. Many of the dresses were too girly - prom style- all full skirts and pastels. While others were just too frumpy or worse still too clingy! With a six course menu ahead and all that standing around sipping champagne, clingy wasn't an option..

I liked the idea of a fitted bodice with a tulip shape skirt with a bit of pleating around the hips for a little more shape and then tapering in narrowly just below the knee.

I had been toying with the idea of finding a vintage style print and unsure whether to go for a floral or not. In the end I spotted this monochrome abstract floral (a little 1950s I thought) in Ditto Fabrics, Brighton. What I liked the most was the weight and feel of the fabric. It is a decent weight cotton with a very slight stretch as well as a light sheen which makes it pefect for 'occassion wear'.

The dressmaking pattern I found was actually the style I was after and I liked the contrasting straps and simple boat neckline. The folded detail of the tulip skirt along with the back split was a little fiddly but a good challenge. Overall I was pleased with the outcome- wore it with a a cropped black silk cardigan and nude kitten heels..