DIY LBD #2 – Gucci Inspired Tassel & Rope Dress

29th June 2011

A couple of days ago I posted a few inspiration images for the second in the DIY Little Black Dress series (see here). I fell in love with the black tasseled dresses at the Gucci SS11 show, and so this is my LBD inspired by those oh-so-glamourous styles. I went for a much more subtle style than the original inspiration as you can see.

DIY
There are two parts to this DIY – the making of the basic capsule of the dress, then the addition of rope and tassels. You’ll need a big thrifted black dress and some rope and tassels.

For the Capsule
1. I turned the sack dress inside out, and overlayed a bodycon dress to get the correct shape - then I pinned it where I wanted to take it in.
2. I cut the sleeves off and the hem of the dress quite short.
3. I took the dress in using the sewing machine and also sewed up the hem.
4. I cut the neckline off completely so I had a tube top style with a kind of cut off triangle neckline. Below is the finished capsule of the dress.
I then pinned and hand sewed 40 tassels on each side of the dress, layering them up for a block effect.
I hot glued two strips of rope together and then sewed them onto the neckline – attaching at the back as straps.
Volia!
I must say that this was quite an involved DIY and took me a little bit of time – you could always add tassels and rope straps to a black tube dress or singlet for a more simple project.
(try not to laugh too hard at my lame pose in these pics – these were the only photos of like 10 that were taken that were passable).
Happy DIYing!