That’s Sew Amy – Tragic Kingdom Dress

I apologize for not posting for a couple of weeks but I’ve been super busy trying to make this dress! If you know me at all, you know I’m obsessed with No Doubt and Gwen Stefani. I had plans to see her residency show in Las Vegas and of course saw an opportunity to recreate something she’s worn. I’ve already made the following: Space Pants, Settle Down pants, amfAR Gala dress, L.A.M.B. dress, and No Doubt Style Bum Flap. I just realized while making that list that I actually have another outfit that I’ve forgotten to blog about! I’ll have to do that one as a Throwback Thursday sometime soon. For this show, I decided to make the red vinyl Tragic Kingdom dress that Gwen wore on the album cover.

I have always wanted to make this dress but end up too intimated to try. I kept thinking I had missed my opportunity because Gwen has said she’s at the end of her musical career and I really have no other place to wear a dress like this. When she announced her Vegas residency, I immediatly thought of this outfit. But once again, intimidation crept in and I was trying to think of a plan b. Tragic Kingdom is the album that got me hooked and I’ve been an obsessed fan ever since. It’s really insane to think that No Doubt has been in my life for over 20 years! I’ve always adored Gwen’s style and tried to mimic her, I’m a Gwenabee through an through. I’ve even had the bleached blonde hair and the hot pink hair, you name it, I’ve done it. So to go back to Tragic Kingdom Gwen with this outfit was amazing for me. What’s funny is that Gwen had this dress on display in an Orange County museum and it was stolen! During the concert she saw me and pointed all excited – I really hope she knows I made my own and I didn’t steal hers!! Haha!!

I ended up making 3 muslins and then a muslin in non-stretch vinyl. I was hoping to use the non-stretch because the material I ended up using actually smelled like dead fish when I first got it. I bought my fabric from JoAnn’s, it’s the Cosplay by Yaya Han Red Pleather. I ended up laying it out (shiny side down) on the driveway and in the bright sunshine, after about 4 hours the smell was completely gone. At the concert I was sweating like a pig and the smell didn’t return, so yay! I was super worried I was going to smell like dead fish in the pit and everyone would be disgusted by me. The fabric was a pain to sew with and basically my nightmare. I ended up having to put tissue paper between the foot and fabric most of the time. This trick really did help. I tried to iron it a few times to create the pleats and used a teflon sheet in-between, but I wasn’t getting anywhere. I ended up having to topstitch the pleats for a cleaner look. The fabric obviously gets super hot when you’re jumping around in a crowded concert but lucikly I lined it with a thin cotton and that helped a little.

The buttons above were my attempt at bra “hooks”. When making the dress I was wearing a different bra than I planned on wearing (yeah, I know, duh) and ended up adding these buttons at the shoulder seams to hold my bra straps over. It worked out pretty well but apparently showed a few times because I never fixed them after all the jumping and chaos of the show. Oh well, it served its purpose for most of the night. I thought about using actual hooks but figured that would be super annoying and dig into my shoulders. I’m all about comfort. You know, as comfortable as you can be in a vinyl dress!

Also, pockets. Always, pockets. I knew I didn’t want to wear a purse but I also needed somewhere to store my phone, money, etc. I made two hidden pockets because one isn’t enough and I would probably end up pulling my phone out and dropping my money everywhere. I just used invisible zippers in the seams. You can tell a little, mainly because the fabric is such a pain to work with, but it’s just a little puckering. The pockets are worth it and came in handy. I’m legit going to put invisible seam pockets into everything now.

Onto the pattern I used as a template, B5554 from Butterick. This is actually out of print now, so I ended up having to order it online. The pattern is for stable knits, but the line drawing was perfect so I figured I’d use it as a starting point. I don’t feel confident drafting my own princess seams. My measurements were 36-31-40, according to the size chart this put me in 14-17-16. But let’s be real, Butterick puts so much damn ease into their patterns that you have to size down, even if you’re making a form fitting knit into a woven. Granted, the fabric I had actually had a bit of stretch, but the lining didn’t and me sizing down to 12-14-14 was a perfect fit. I actually plan on making work shirts from wovens with this pattern now.

I made so many adjustments that I’m not even sure you can call it B5554 anymore. I made a rounded shoulder adjustment and took out a bit of gaping in the front neck and back neck. I added an inch to the top of the shoulders, shortened it and made my own pleated skirt. I also made it into more of a tank top than sleeveless. I didn’t do the best job here, but whatever. It drives me insane when the Big 4 use the same armscye for sleeved and sleeveless. I will say that Butterick was at least better than the McCalls dress I made a few years back. Fun fact, that dress was inspired by Gwen’s Don’t Speak dress. I’m telling you, I’m a total copy-cat.

As you can see above, I’m not the only Gwenabee! I made new friends! I get so excited when other people are just as obsessed as me. There were about 4 other girls dresses as her but I didn’t get to talk to them. I met these girls on a trip to the ladies room HAHA!! “Hi, I’m Amy, I know you need to use the bathroom, but please be my friend!”. Yep.

Also, here I am with Gwen’s trumpet player, Stephen Bradley. He’s been with No Doubt since before they hit it big. I’ve met him a few times over the years and he’s an awesome guy. So that about wraps things up, I’ll leave you with a few pictures of the concert. If you have a chance to get to Vegas and see Gwen, I highly recommend it. She’s there until March 2019. I hope to go back again in March. Enjoy!