Help on simple dress, please?

[Limeflavoredlollypop]

  I know this probably is going to make me seem completely clueless about sewing...

Can anyone help me think of how to recreate this dress from Vampire Knight, worn by the character Sara Shirabuki?

I'll link some scans that depict the dress:
Most of the dress:
http://www.mangareader.net/104-33723-20/vampire-knight/chapter-54.html
(She's on the bottom of the page, closest to the left with her head down)

Close up on neckline:
http://www.mangareader.net/104-33723-19/vampire-knight/chapter-54.html
(On the bottom right-hand)

I know it's quite simple but when I look at that neck strap thing, it's really intimidating. Oh and does anyone know what kind of shape those beads are (as in what they're called if I have to hunt them down in a shop) and how you would attach them onto the strap?

Thanks 

[Megrims]

Right, here goes...

It's a strapless dress - the kind of strapless dress that can be made by taking a looong rectangle of thin fabric (2x your bust measurement or 3x your waist measurement is a good guess, whichever is larger) sewing the edges together, and gathering it at the top edge and just below the bust. 

For the straps to look as smooth as they do in the manga, you'd have to make them out of shaped pieces of fabric, but you could cheat with ribbon. Sew a piece of ribbon on the top edge, then another under the bust (on top of the gathering.)  For the neck strap, take a piece of ribbon and attach it to the dress where your bra strap would normally be.  Bring it up across your chest to your other shoulder, and wrap it around the back of your neck until it crosses itself in the back.  Then bring it down across your chest and attach it to the other side, just like you did the first. You'll probably need someone to help you - pin it with safety pins first, and make sure you leave a little room in the ribbon around your neck - I'd suggest that you sew the ribbon in a fixed position and add a clasp at the back so you can get out of it, or else you'll be hanging a strapless dress from your neck and choking every time you wear it. This is one of those situation where a picture is worth a thousand words - it will probably be much simpler if you just get some ribbon and play with wrapping it.

Those beads are crystal drops - that exact shape might be hard to find. They look flat, like chandelier crystals.  However, crystal drops in a round teardrop or diamond shape are easy to find. They have holes either in the top, across the narrow end, or running through the length of the bead.  You'll want the ones with the holes across the top - just stitch them to the ribbon where you want them.

Hope that's somewhat intelligible, I could show you in five minutes but my technical writing is a bit rusty.