I’ve always been envious of other Frocktails events held around the world. Frocktails combines things I love: pretty clothes, cocktails and meeting other fabulous sewists.

Sew Social, aka the wonderful Sandra Julian, organized Wellington’s first Frocktails event which was held last month.

I found it very difficult to decide what to sew as I don’t often get dressed to a Frocktails level! Generally, I prefer to sew garments that I wear regularly. Being mid-winter I wanted to make sure I was warm.

Firstly I was thinking about making a Jazz Jumpsuit in viscose along with a Kochi Kimono in Rayon. That outfit was planned when the weather was warmer. My next thought was making a jacket with my Banana print wool coating. I didn’t want to make a plain black dress so that idea was canned. I ended up finding a blue twill silk/cotton at The Fabric Store which I knew would make a fabulous structured dress to wear with my Saunio Cardigan.

I chose Vogue 8786 as I had previously made the pattern for my Day and Night dress challenge. I was generally happy with the fit of the garment last time, however, I knew I needed to add an extra 1cm to every seam allowance from the waist to the hips. I did this and took in the dress around the waist. These adjustments improved the shape for my hourglass figure.

The sleeves and neckline of this pattern are meant to be finished with bias binding. I decided to line the dress bodice with the leftover dress fabric using the burrito method. The body of the dress is lined in a similar tone blue cotton.

Unfortunately, the dress was not sitting nicely on my upper body. As I was short on time I folded 3cm under at the shoulder seam line. I topstitched this area down. I really like the finish that the extra fabric gives to my shoulders. The simplicity of the plain fabric made the dress feel a little bland. That’s why I added a metal zip.

Adjusting the dress at the shoulders made the dress slightly shorter in the front and slightly longer in the back. I left it like this as the difference is very slight and I need the length in the back.

I made a textured leather Ida clutch to take to complement my Frocktails outfit. I sewed in two D rings on either side of the bag so it can function as either a purse or clutch.

I had a great time at Frocktails. It was a wonderful opportunity to chat with people that I’ve admired from Instagram. The cocktails were pretty delicious too!

I was very lucky to win the supreme lucky draw prize! Brother NZ donated a label maker which I’ve since used to label all the things. The Sewing Depot kindly donated a $100 voucher which enabled me to stock up on sewing tools.

Sew Social has arranged an upcoming event for Auckland. It’s not too late to get your ticket or organise a frock for the occasion. I look forward to many more Frocktails events. I definitely need to get braver at making fancy garments.