Making Nesta's Dress
Inspired by the book "A Court of Silver Flames"
It’s no secret that the ACOTAR series has made a massive impact on my fantasy-loving heart! But Nesta… girl…. I feel you. The Nesta/Cassian love story is my absolute favorite and once I got to A Court of Silver Flames, it was like the rest of the books didn’t even come close to being in the same league for me. Don’t hate me for saying that… this is just my personal relationship with the series. I love the Bat Boys in a big way, but Cassian… he has my heart!
On the fantasy fashion side of things… I am IN LOVE with Designer Daddy’s (Nephi Garcia) amazing designs. He is well known for his self-taught style of creating the most epic ACOTAR/Fantasy/Fairytale designs imaginable and even Katy Perry has a transforming Cinderella dress made by him!
But… I can’t afford thousands of dollars (let along $400-$1000) for a simple dress from his Sophisique line. So… I make my own. I don’t pretend to be in the same league, nor do I shy away from the fact that I get a lot of inspo from both him as well as AI fashions I see on Pintrest. I don’t sell my gowns, but I love to show others how they can make their own versions.
So here we go… let’s talk about the materials it took to make this and the process I took in designing Nesta’s dress.
Fabrics and Notions
First thing’s first… to get the pattern I wanted, I created a mock-up with basic muslin. This is a process I used to think was a waste of time, but after several screw-ups on the sewing table, I’ve come to realize it saves a mountain of time and money in the long run. Draping/Drafting the pattern was a bit of a pain, but now I have a solid reusable pattern I can use many times over. You can find cheap muslin at your local fabric store and I recommend buying several yards to keep on hand for future projects.
The Sequence Fabric I used was found on Etsy and wasn’t terribly expensive, surprisingly. I used 1 Yard and still had some leftover from this project.
The Black Glitter Fabric I also found on Etsy.I had previously purchased a ton of this fabric for my Court of Nightmare’s dress and bought around 10 yards at the time. I really had no idea what I was doing, but figured it was better to have too much than not enough. This project only used about 1.5 yards.
I also added a little Spiderweb Stretch Mesh I found at Joanne’s to the sides to give a little more coverage and maintain a sexy vibe.
Under the front panels of the top, I sewed on nude-colored 4-way stretch mesh for additional modesty and to prevent any “exposure” from happening.
For the side closure, I used a simple hook and eye closure on just one side of the skirt.
The Process
The first thing I had to do was take the measurements of where I wanted the lines of the dress to fall. I have an adjustable mannequin that is fitted to my size with some extra padding to the hips, booty, and chest, so it made a huge difference in this process, but you can do this by using a tape measure on your own body as well.
Once I had the basic measurements for the skirt length and top straps, I cut sizes out of the muslin that were larger than what I wanted the dress to be. This allowed me to pin everything to my sewing mannequin (who I lovingly call Frida) and start creating the exact look I wanted.
Once I had the pattern done, I could pin it to my fabric and cut as normal, giving myself a 1/2 in. seam allowance.
I used black thread with a basic stitch. Nothing fancy at all.
Accessories
The wire “bra” you see in my pictures actually provides no support, but does add a nice touch I think to the outfit. I’m learning to make these myself, but this one was from Cult Gia and is honestly the most expensive part of this entire outfit.
The crown I found on Amazon has the ultimate Nesta vibe as part of the trove’s mentioned in the Silver Flames novel.
The belt came as a two pack (one silver and one gold) again from Amazon. I had hoped to have a handmade belt to go with this outfit, but the process is proving to be a little more complicated than I anticipated with my 3D printer, so I went with this as an alternative.
I made the necklace by hand and sometimes sell them in my design shop when I have time to make enough of them for the demand. They have sold out 3 times since I originally appeared with it for my Court of Nightmare’s dress in October 2023 (I ended up winning sexiest costume at friend’s part for this look I’m happy to say!)
So there you have it! All the materials and accessories and I honestly wish I had a better method in terms of the actual sewing process. Most of the time with these projects, I’m flying blind and hoping for the best. I’ve learned a lot in terms of techniques from my mom, who sewed most of my clothes and costumes when I was growing up. I learned very early on how to sew simple projects, but I didn’t pick up a sewing machine again until I had my daughter, and I began sewing her holiday dresses. From there, I figured why not try to make my own dresses too and the rest is history!
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