Emerald Dress Refashion for the opening of WICKED

Excitement beckons as the 10th anniversary Australian tour of the international hit Broadway show WICKED opens in Melbourne tomorrow night. I have been sewing an appropriate dress to wear to this rather special green-tinged occasion. As the Regent Theatre will be transformed into a miniature Emerald City, it seems only fitting to wear an emerald green dress.

This green dress is a Hunter Gatherer reject, ready for me to restyle. You only need to look at that funky crepe fabric to know it is a classic 80′s number.

First up, I’ve cut away two longer sleeves, preferring a shorter capped sleeve. In doing so, I’ve realised the shape is not quite what I was looking for, so I’ve tucked each armhole underneath a little bit more, and stitched each side shut.

Next, I found the length of the dress far too long, but circle skirts are time consuming to alter. A sewing expert friend suggested I try a gathered drawstring style alteration to the length. To do this, I have stitched in a line of lace with a complimentary blue ribbon threaded through, in 8 equal installments around the skirt’s hem perimeter. I then pull each ‘drawstring’ blue ribbon, which gathers the length of the skirt, and sew shut.  The result is a sort of ruffley scalloped hem.

The lining of this dress was somewhat stained, so I’ve simply cut it away using pinking sheers, and have chosen to wear an undergarment skirt to avoid see-through failure.

I really like the end look of this dress, and adore its back button detailing.  I will get my wear out of this dress for one night, but it will be going back to Hunter Gatherer with other pieces that I will be working on in the future, ready for resale. All profits from the sale of my restyled pieces will be go back to Hunter Gatherer and therefore its affiliated charity, Brotherhood of St Laurence.

Now back to WICKED. After tomorrow night’s opening, I will be writing a review and will update this blog post with a link to it. In the meantime, I have an offer for Melbourne readers. Sales for WICKED tickets do not go on sale until Monday, but I have an exclusive pre-sale promotion, where you can buy tickets for the expected sell-out show in advance. Pre-sale tickets can be purchased here

Until tomorrow my pretties ….