My Spring Racing Dress for Lincraft Competition!

I’m so happy to be able to finally show off my Spring Racing dress I made for Lincraft as part of a competition they are running over the Melbourne Cup Carnival this year. This is a public vote competition and I’d love it if you could support me by giving it a like here.  Voting runs from 4th – 10th November.

I’ve been working on this dress over the past month since Lincraft released the competition details. The brief was to use Lincraft fabric from their Spring Racing fabric collection and one of their fascinators or a headpiece you have made with supplies from Lincraft. I’m not usually a horse racing goer but I do love the fashion on the fields and this was a great opportunity for me to be a part of the carnival celebrations.  It’s a time when you can really dress up and not feel like you stand out too much. In fact standing out is what you want to do!

When I first found out about the competition I immediately did some research on pinterest to get some ispiration. My original ideas were soft, romantic ruffle styles in pastel pinks and mauves. With that in mind I headed off to Lincraft to pick up my supplies but my ideas changed very quickly though as I realised their Spring Racing fabric collection was nothing like what I had in my mind. Their collection is full of pretty taffeta’s in bright bold florals, beautiful but not what I had in mind so back to the drawing board. I think I spent about two hours trawling through the pattern books, taking photos and trying to figure out what styles would suit the heavier taffeta fabrics. My eye was drawn to the emerald green taffeta with a huge flower repeat pattern. The style would have to be dramatic to show off the flower.  After hours deciding on a pattern I finally chose one but when I got home wasn’t completely convinced. So back to Pinterest….and again I was being drawn to a certain style. This time full and vintage looking and I particularly  liked the asymetric hemline look. Another trip into Lincraft where I picked up Simplicity Pattern 1873 by Cynthia Rowley. A petite dress in two lengths with a pleated skirt and various neckline choices. For me, a simple fitted bodice and a full skirt was all I needed. This time the pattern was perfect and now it was time to turn my vision into a dress.

Getting ready.

A walk through the gardens.

Where are those horsies?

A little windy….

Making the dress

I made a muslin to start with and luckily I didn’t have to make a lot of alterations.  I took a few cm’s off at the shoulder and blended it into the armhole to create a more flattering shoulder seam. I also altered the hem by taking a few cm’s off the front and adding a few to the back gradually blending the line creating the asymmetric hemline. I fully lined the dress attaching the lining to the hem and I also hand stitched the zipper in.

I used the couture method of basting and prick stitching to ensure it was perfect. This method gives you so much more control and the basting keeps the CB seam in place whilst stitching. The basting is easy to remove afterwards.

I also, decided to make my own headpiece as I thought the fascinators made me look a bit (dare I say) old.  Lincraft have loads of accessories to choose from. I found a headband, some ribbon, foamy flowers and acrylic paint. I wrapped the ribbon around the headband, painted the flowers and just wrapped them around the headband.

Voila, a really pretty DIY head piece.

At first I thought I would wear black with the dress but I really wanted the green to stand out. Black just seemed a little to safe. I looked at the colour wheel and decided to go with the opposing colour of red or pink. Hot pink infact, it works beautifully with the emerald green. My purse is from David Jones and I picked up my shoes from ASOS to complete the look.

I am so pleased with my dress. In fact it turned out better than what I had envisioned. I wanted a dramatic, vintage looking dress and I wanted it to really sit out at the waistline like the 50’s Dior Styles. I hope you love it as much as I do and I’d love for you to give my dress a vote for the Lincraft competition.

Please remember to vote for my dress by giving it a like.

Pics by Tony Prysten