I turned 30 this year and we decided to celebrate by having a Quinceanera Dos party. I have been a fan for several years of the big quinceanera dresses in California so we decided that 30 (15 times 2) was the right time to have a party where I could wear one. Of course, I wanted to make the dress myself so Lloyd and I went to the fabric store and bought the most fabric I have ever bought for a single project. We bought 5 yards of black tulle, 4 yards of red tulle, a yard of red silk, 5 yards of black satin, and half a yard of red lining. Then Lloyd had to go back and get another 5 yards of black tulle. Lots of fabric. We also bought a red invisible zipper (16 inches), a yard of black and red belt material, and a sparkly belt clasp.
Again, I stared with a pattern already in existence and modified it for what I wanted. I started with this pattern, which I’m not sure that they make anymore, and modified the pattern for dress B. The first step was to cut out the many layers of tulle in four different lengths. The bottom layer was black and went all the way from my waist to the floor, about 29 inches for me. The next layer was red and since the pattern hit where I wanted, about mid-calf, I just used the pattern for this layer. Then I cut the second black layer to about knee level. Finally, I cut the second red layer to about miniskirt length.
Then I cut out the underskirt and the bodice from the satin. I cut the bodice from the red silk and lining as well. The bodice didn’t fit particularly well, so I resized it using my dress form first to get close to the correct size and then on myself. Then I sewed the silk to the satin and sewed the bodice together. Before I added in the lining, I added straps since I don’t entirely trust strapless dresses. Once the bodice was sewn together, I pinned in the zipper and attached the underskirt so I could size that as well. With a little pleating, the underskirt fit nicely.
At this stage, the dress really looked like a prom dress, but I wanted some volume in the skirt. A fun few hours of gathering the tulle ensued. I sewed each layer of tulle to the underskirt individually, the longer layers first.
After the skirt was assembled, I installed the zipper and hemmed the bottom two layers to the correct length so that I could walk without tripping over the skirt. I liked the finished product even though I feel it came out a little more “Old West” than “quinceanera”.
Note: I was given a tiara at the party later that night.