Melbourne Frocktails is an annual cocktail party for anyone who loves to sew their own clothes. Once you score your ticket, (they sell out in minutes) it’s all about what the heck are you going to make this year…
This event is so popular now that Frocktails are popping up in city’s all around the globe and no wonder as it’s a super fun sewcial night where like-minded people get to meet and chat about sewing with a cocktail in hand. Tickets are usually scarce with over 100+ sewers attending wearing anything from cocktail dresses to hotpants!
I sponsor the event each year with giveaways like patterns and gift vouchers plus this year I also held a “Sew a Party Frock” class which was run over 4 weeks for anyone feeling a little intimidated about sewing a Frocktail outfit. In saying this, you really can turn up in anything. There’s no need to be intimidated, your outfit doesn’t have to be perfect and certainly doesn’t have to be of red carpet style. This event is for anyone from the complete beginner and beyond. The bonus for anyone attending my class was that they scored a ticket reserved just for them. The ladies who run the Frocktails Melbourne event guaranteed anyone who attended one of my classes would score a “rare as men in a sewing class” ticket. Fabulous!
After sorting out everyone in my class, I figured I’d better get onto sewing my own dress. I had a few ideas going on in my head, one being a sequinned dress. I do love a sequinned dress but I know from sewing a bomber jacket in sequins last year that it takes some time, which I didn’t have. I did have a gorgeous bright pink jacquard fabric that I had picked up from The Fabric Store in Fitzroy a few years ago so I decided it was time to bring it out and use it. I also had a TAT (tried and true) pattern – Simplicity 1873 – which is a Cynthia Rowley designed pattern. I’ve made this dress pattern before for my Spring Racing Dress for Lincraft and have made it several times for friends so I knew I could whip it up pretty quickly. Luckily, I had some soft pink colour lining in my stash which matched perfectly to the background colour of the fabric.
As with my past makes of this pattern, I lengthened the hem at the back for a waterfall look and narrowed the shape at the shoulders but they were the only adjustments needed for this pattern. This pattern is a real winner!
I love how my dress turned out. I decided to wear black accessories with it on the night but I could definitely play around with colour combinations. In these pictures, I stuck with a neutral theme. If you have been eyeing off the bag I’m holding in these pics, it is from Moy Tasmania. They have the most divine handmade bags, I’m absolutely in love with them.
I hope you can get to a Frocktails event this year. 2020 is certainly turning out to be quite the year for sewing so get onto your frocks in ISO now and hopefully later in the year we will all be able to frock up together.
Happy Sewing!
Annie x
