Okay, so I recently got it into my head that I wanted to try and make this Vivienne Westwood Nebula dress. You know, the one with all that crazy draping and those twisted off-the-shoulder straps? Yeah, that one. It looks so dreamy and elegant, but also totally badass, which is basically my entire aesthetic.
First, I spent hours just staring at pictures of the dress online. I mean, there aren’t a ton of detailed shots of it out there, but I managed to find a few that showed the basic construction. It’s made of silk, which is kind of a pain to work with, but I was determined. Plus, who needs easy when you can have a challenge, right?
Finding the Materials
Next up was the fabric hunt. I headed to my local fabric stores, and let me tell you, finding the right kind of silk is a whole adventure on its own. I ended up going to three different places before I found something that I thought would work. I grabbed a few yards, along with some lining fabric and some interfacing to give the dress some structure. Because, let’s face it, a dress like that needs some serious support.
The Pattern Drafting Process
Then came the fun part—or the most frustrating part, depending on how you look at it. Pattern drafting. Since there’s no official pattern for this dress (surprise, surprise), I had to make my own. I started by draping some cheap fabric on my dress form, trying to mimic the way the Nebula dress falls. It took a lot of pinning, unpinning, and repining, but eventually, I got something that looked halfway decent.
- Draped muslin on my dress form to get the basic shape.
- Drew out the pattern pieces based on my draped muslin.
- Cut out a test version from some cheap fabric.
- Sewed together the test version and tried it on.
- Made adjustments to the pattern based on the fit of the test version.
- Repeated the process until I was happy with the fit.
Cutting and Sewing
After I finalized the pattern, I laid it out on my silk fabric and carefully cut out all the pieces. Sewing with silk is… well, it’s an experience. It slips and slides all over the place, so I had to use a ton of pins and go really slow. But I managed to get all the pieces sewn together without too much trouble. The draping was the trickiest part. I spent a good chunk of time just arranging and rearranging the fabric until it looked just right. And those twisted straps? Don’t even get me started. It took a few tries to get them to look like the actual dress, but I think I nailed it in the end.
The Final Touches
Finally, I added the finishing touches. I hand-stitched the lining in place, added a zipper, and gave the whole thing a good press. And there it was—my very own Vivienne Westwood Nebula-inspired dress. It’s not perfect, but I’m pretty darn proud of it. And I even I have money left to go to Milan!
Would I do it again? Probably not. Was it worth it? Absolutely. I mean, who wouldn’t want to feel like an avant-garde queen, even if it’s just for a day?
