Evergreen Gown Part 1

  I saw some dresses made from Christmas trees and fell in love with them.  I just had to have one for myself so as soon as Christmas was over I went out and bought an artificial tree at half price. Now there are some problems I had to consider before the construction began.
1. Artificial trees have a big metal pole going up the center of each branch.
2. How to attach the branches once they have I get them away from said big metal shish kabob.
3. How do I sit down once I have the dress completed?
 Answers I came up with,
1. I will get a sharp knife (YIKES!! only nicked myself twice) and cut them apart!!
2. I thought about hot gluing them down but I will be sewing them down too which will be VERY bothersome when the thread gets tangled and very time consuming.
3. Don't sit down.
  So once I figured that out I went to work on the style of the dress which as since then changed drastically.

This was what the floor looked like after I was done cutting the 635 branches off the shish kabobs.

That's what the shish kabobs look like without the pine needle/ mini branches off the main one that attaches to the center pole of the artificial tree.  The threads that kept the needles to the metal pole looked like hair once I cut them off. 

I wanted the skirt of the dress to be very full at the bottom but fitted at the waist without a bunch of pleats and gathers. I didn't want to be even more bulky at the waist than the branches were going to make it so I cut out a 6 paneled gored skirt for that purpose. The green,doesn't match the needles but I didn't need it to since you aren't really going to see the green behind the branches. I just wanted a green background color so it helped fill in any thin spots.

I made the bodice base out of  some cotton I had laying around then put some boning in to help it keep some shape once I put the heavily quilted velvet fabric on. 

Here is the design I settled with for the bodice top. I wanted something that branched together to tie in with the tree skirt but something that wasn't overpowering. Not sure if I achieved that goal or not but I did try and it was fun.  I'm making  a white with a shimmer overlay for the trumpet styled sleeves then I just have the bottom left. 

Thanks for stopping in!