With one somewhat successful-ish dance dress under my belt, I set out to try again.  This time I used a ITY Spring Green Jersey Knit that I purchased from Fashion Fabrics Club.

I liked the fit of the last dress I made pretty well, so I started with the pattern I had used with that and shortened it to be just the bodice again.  I also cut the center front panel to create more of a sweetheart neckline.

I had purchased 5 yards of the green fabric, not really knowing how much I was going to use.  I believe that was the same amount I had purchased for my previous dress.  I cut two bodices in the green and a third in a swimsuit lining to be next to my skin.  I assembled the outer bodice and used the swimsuit lining and the other green pieces together, with the swimsuit lining being the “right” side of the construction.  So when I joined the two bodices together, all the seams were hidden between the layers of fabric.  I sewed everything together at the neckline and sewed elastic to the inner most layer with a 3 step zigzag stitch (I learned my lesson from the last version!)  Then folded it all over to the inside and zigzagged it again to have a clean edge.

The bottom end of the inner bodice was left hanging.  I had thought I would end up adding a second layer of skirts to create an underdress, like Laura La Gassa shows in her step by step gown construction post, but I haven’t done that (yet?)  I also figured I could sew in some swimsuit bottoms to finish off an inner leotard, but I also haven’t done that yet either.  Although I planned this dress for a while and purchased most of the materials early, I had to rush it at the end so that I could do at least a little decorating before I wore it.

I added a flowering vine-like pattern around the entire neckline, with a little more detail in the center front.  

I also started on a waist design, as you can see in the photo above.  But attaching all those rhinestones is very time consuming, so after several evenings working on it, I ended up needing to stop to let everything dry and cure in time for my competition.  So I just have a strange blob of rhinestones on the front of my waist.

Here are a couple photos from the competition last year when I first wore it.

And here is a video of my foxtrot solo where you can see how it moves.

With my lesson learned about dancing in bedclothes, I decided to go for making an actual dance dress for the longer version of my Viennese Waltz routine.  I stopped in to Pacific Fabrics and found a lovely maroon slinky knit and a lovely black and white stretch floral netting.  I liked how the maroon under the netting gave it more of a purple appearance.

So I took the pattern pieces I had altered previously for the blanket version and removed some of the width to remove the excess ease since I wanted the knit version to be close to my body.  I also omitted the peplum and lengthened the bodice pieces to be floor length.  I didn’t put the netting over the center front piece to make it reminiscent of the Renaissance/Baroque style ball gown.

And here’s a video of me dancing it it.  The neckline really needs to have elastic inserted to keep it up better and the skirt doesn’t move as much as I had hoped.  I have extra material and someday I might end up going back to hack at this dress some more to make it work better.  As it is, I haven’t worn it again since this dance.

I’ve been taking dance lessons from an Arthur Murray franchise for several years now.  I really enjoy it, but it’s pricey.  The lessons are pricey and the events are pricey, but the gowns are insanely expensive and I just can’t bring myself to buy one of those gowns.  But, I figured I could make one.