Lace dress knock off

I love love LOVE this dress! I found it a couple of years ago and put it on my ever growing "to do" list.

I competed in SYTYC in 2012 and when I saw that one of the themes was "knock off" I didn't even have to figure out what I would do. This dress was sooo it! 

Here's Mr. De La Renta's

And here's mine.

Obviously his is much more luxe than mine but he's a famous designer and well....I'm just not. 

(Also, how cute is that Michelle Williams?? That pic of her almost makes me want to forget the "growing my hair out" mumbo jumbo and chop it all off!)

I meant to do a tutorial of this dress but I was so excited to get going that I sort of blew off taking pictures. This shouldn't be a problem though, because the best way to "knock off" this lovely Oscar de la Renta dress is to find an existing pattern. I found this pattern in my vintage pattern stash and used it as a guide for my bodice.

Obviously instead of the v-neck I had a rounded neckline. And I scrapped the princess cut to have a bodice and skirt. If you're wanting to make your own, this Simplicity pattern would work well. 

To get the same look use the bodice pattern pieces, widen the skirt to give it a slight gather, and shorten the sleeves a bit. Then you can add black bias binding for the sleeves and neck a and satin sash.

 The best thing about sewing is making something original and to your own taste. If you like the cut of a certain dress pattern simply use lace over satin to get the Oscar look. And you don't have to use ivory like I did, use a color that will make you happy: yellow, soft pink, beige, whatever color that makes your little heart flutter! Below are the fabrics I used.