Monarch Butterfly Dress

[AshleyRae]

Quinndustrious P. suggested I post this on the general clothing board, and I liked that suggestion  So, I hope I don't get in trouble having this double-posted.  In the mean time, I'll try to figure out how to get it removed from the "Designer Homage" board.  Sorry for any inconvenience, dear moderators  
 
Ultraquick backstory:  I stumbled across Luly Yang's Monarch Gown a while back.  Seriously, her dress is the most gorgeous dress you will EVER see, guaranteed (okay, maybe not guaranteed, but you'd be lying to yourself if you said it wasn't breath-taking).  Google it; you'll see what I mean.  The multi-thousand dollar price tag made me gasp, so I had to resort to making it instead of buying.

[jfer007]

This is really beautiful! Great work!

[mrsflibble]

where the heck did you get the wings for the skirt? it's amazing! (and I loved that dress too, but i think my favorite luly one is the peacock feather one)

[kcartwright856]

Wow! This looks so awesome!

[AshleyRae]

where the heck did you get the wings for the skirt? it's amazing! (and I loved that dress too, but i think my favorite luly one is the peacock feather one)

I used orange satin for the skirt panels, backed with red stretch satin.  Black sharpie (and a gob-ton of it!) was used for the design and white fabric paint for the...well, white spots

And, the peacock dress is UTTERLY AMAZING!  I would LOVE to try a cocktail dress version of that, but how would you wash it???  

[Dragonflower]

That is stunning! (I adore the original, too. )

[sabrinalouisemiller]

You did such a great job on this, and you look so fantastic wearing it!

[sorbetsurprise]

Your dress is stunning!  It is beautiful and must have taken hours, have you got any construction details for it?  It also looks really wearable too.

[Ludi]

Lovely!

[bubblegum_phoenix]

Wowsers...

[AshleyRae]

Your dress is stunning!  It is beautiful and must have taken hours, have you got any construction details for it?  It also looks really wearable too.

As far as construction details, I'll do my best.

I used orange satin and free-handed a wing pattern.  I made 7 panels and backed them with stretchy red satin.  I have a butterfly book, so I picked the best monarch picture I could find and used about 15 jumbo black permanent markers to make the design (I tried Rit Dye, but it just ended up running when it got wet).  I didn't want to use a bunch of black fabric paint because I didn't want the fabric to get stiff.  The marker worked beautifully.  I did use white fabric paint to make the white dots, though.

I pinned the panels onto a black strapless dress and kept rearranging them until I got a layout I liked.  I then sewed the panels onto the skirt of the dress - the panels flare out nicely when I dance, but the skirt of the strapless dress base provides modesty. 

Lastly, I cut the bust of the dress into a sweetheart neckline and added some scrap orange satin, because it needed a little extra something. 

Hope that answers your questions   And thanks, everyone, for the wonderful comments.  My ego's nearing the size of Texas ;P

[FoxyMama]

Beautiful!!!

~Martha

[lvl0rg4n]

Gorgeous.

[ljelondon]

Lovely! I already This Rocksed this when it was in Homage; good to see it getting a wider audience here.

[AshleyRae]

Lovely! I already This Rocksed this when it was in Homage; good to see it getting a wider audience here.

Aww, shucks! 
Thanks! 
By the way, you guys sure do know how to make a girl feel special ;P

[butter_fly]

Fantastic!!! I absolutely love it! And your dress looks as awesome as original one.. You did such a great job!

[idioskosmos]

Love your dress!  It's just as beautiful as the Luly Yang original, and much more wearable.  Now I want to make one too :-)  Here's a link to someone else making a butterfly dress http://anotherhappygroom.wordpress.com/category/dress/the-ceilidh-dress/

[jezebel_1982]

my favorite species of butterfly combined with my favorite art? You rocked my world!

[seabound23]

This is gorgeous! I rarely wear dresses and I feel like I would rock this shit outta this! Well done!

[Quinndustrious P.]

Glad to see this awesome dress is getting the attention it deserves!

[time]

As beautiful as the dress is I couldn't help but notice the wearer. Please never feel you need to lose weight to look "better". You are so pretty and that dress shows you off to a 't'. Very well made. Kudos!

[Avi]

I have to say, I love yours more than Luly Yang's Monarch Gown! You get the beauty of the monarch wings without it being overdone, and the black top goes beautifully. Fantastic work, it must have been quite a project

[Strawberryh]

OK I MAY BE  AND NOT AS THIN AS YOU> BUT I WANT THIS DRESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SS

[northwest is best]

Wow, looks fantastic!

[kjlutz]

Beautiful job.

[Caymen]

Great job!

[starwatcher]

beautiful

[lidehtium]

Oh my! This is amazing, Ive been drooling over this dress for so long and I now know how I can go about making it!
thank you soooo much.

It turned absolutely gorgeous on you

[Lilak Tygress]

I used to deliver pizza in DT Seattle, and I'd walk by her shop a couple times a week.  I've seen your inspiration piece and I WANTED I SO BAD!!! Great job!!

[marionwilhelm]

That is a real stunner! Beautiful, just beautiful.

[JamieS]

Wow, that is so creative!

[Jillinamillion]

Beautiful! You did a great job! I just googled the original! WOW!  How inspiring!

[craftewoman]

Gorgeous knock off! That is a why didn't I think of that moment. I think this would be beautiful using a blue butterfly as inspiration too. http://people.tribe.net/1af52a21-d7a1-40ab-aaab-ec4455f893f5/photos/fe92d23b-9848-4700-bf05-dce47219a519.

[Jazz the Spazz]

Man oh man! Your dress is as beautiful as the butterfly itself!

[AshleyRae]

You know, I've been toying with the idea of doing a blue one!  But, I was thinking that I'd do it as more of a surprise element on a dress.  So, I was thinking of making a little black dress with a high-lo hem with the blue butterfly print as the skirt lining, just for a little peek.  How awesome would that be?!?!

[Ex_Gratia]

Um, ya the original is freaking amazing you are correct.
I really like yours, too, fantastic job!

[ZombieLili]

Wow, this is so beautiful *__*

[lilkimmi27]

wow looks so pretty!!

[cutelittledevil]

You made my day.
I have a masked ball, two weeks from now, with the theme 'midsummernight dream' This is THE thing to wear. Should repaint my mask, but that is worth it for sure.

[pilarfarmer]

i just googled the original dress and yours is just as beautiful, and seems more wearable too. i also think it would be gorgeous in blue too. you did a great job recreating the design.

[chypreamber]

Pretty!!!! The black sharpie colouring-in must have taken a long time though!

[KayleighAnn]

Its times like this that I wish I could sew, oh and had a sewing machine ha.

Your dress is beautiful. I googled the dress also, officially in love with the colours of the monarch butterfly and I never really enjoyed wearing orange before.

Just need to put some wire in the seams to make it stay in shape on its own!! Might make it a pain to wash though...



KayleighAnn

[AshleyRae]

Pretty!!!! The black sharpie colouring-in must have taken a long time though!

Ohmygosh, yes it did!  I went through about 20 markers.  The jumbo ones worked the best, but those suckers are $5 a pop, so I made do with the little ones because I'm frugal-to-a-fault. 

[Ivablu1]

This is sooooooooo gorgeous, it looks really beautiful on you,
I think i know what im going to do this hols!!
It would also look great as a party dress for a little girl or a bridesmaid dress, that would be really cute!!

I love it!!