The February Dress. A dress inspired by the love and romance that February brings. A month full of flowers, hearts, love notes, and kisses. I knew early on that February would be a ball gown. It had to be big and grand and beautiful, but it also needed to be whimsical. My choice in fabric created that look. The color, drape, and the embellishments in The February Dress had to be perfect. Something breathtakingly elaborate, but also delicate and not overdone. This blush floral embellished fabric was the clear winner. This fabric is symbolic of how every woman should feel in February (Valentine’s Day date or not!). It is feminine, unique with scalloped lace and beading that harmoniously create one of the most beautiful fabrics that I have ever worked with.
SHOP MY SHOES (they run tts and are even more beautiful in person!)
photography by Jordan Zobrist
This dress took nine yards of fabric and sixteen hours to create. The most fabric I’ve ever used on a dress was five yards, so the creation of this dress was really pushing my capabilities. I was originally going to do a flutter sleeve that mimicked the silhouette of the skirt, but the more I looked at the fabric on my mannequin without any fabric backing it, I knew I needed to do long sleeves to really show off the embroidery against the skin.
I kept the scalloped trim along the edges of the sleeves to match the hem of my skirt. I cut off all of the 3D floral embellishments on the sleeves to give it a cleaner look. I wanted the sleeves to be long, but not feel too heavy. I opted for a simple scoop neck and had the embroidered fabric come just a touch higher than the solid fabric underneath. I placed the embroidered bodice fabric at an angle, and the embroidered skirt fabric with the flowers running straight down, which I think is a really pretty juxtaposition. To get the look that I wanted for the full skirt, the embellished fabric needed to be gathered a lot.
The fabric underneath is a bit more of a baby pink (which kept the dress from looking too peach), but if the embroidered fabric laid flat against it, the skirt wouldn’t be the true shade of blush that I was aiming for. So I gathered about seven yards of the fabric to create the skirt. You will see in my Behind The Dress video coming next week…it was quite an ordeal! I also had to remove all the beading along the top of the fabric so that I could sew it without breaking too many needles.
For the hemline I chose a shorter hem in the front to give it a youthful silhouette. A full length gown with long sleeves would have read a bit older than I was wanting, and I love the little window the skirt has for the Badgley Mischka shoes (which, by the way, are the most beautiful shoes I’ve ever worn). I kept the jewelry simple with only these Baublebar drop statement hoops in the exact same blush shade as the dress.
I decided to keep the location for this shoot clean and elegant. I opted for a studio so that the focus would be on the fabric and the dress, not so much the surroundings. The January Dress was all about the location…The February Dress is all about the fabric. We created a cascading flower wall that enhanced the flowers on the dress without overshadowing them, and played a lot with natural light against the damask molded wall.
Here is the full time-lapse video of how I created The February Dress..
The inspiration board for The February Dress:
The February Dress inspiration sketch done by Jill Paz Illustration
I hope you love this dress as much as I loved dreaming and creating it. It was a dress I feel like I’ve been dying to create for my entire life. If I could be any dress, I would be The February Dress.
Get this look with similar dresses below:
Don’t miss any of my dresses from The Monthly Dress Series. You can follow along on instagram at #themonthlydressseries, or click on any of the dresses below to view the full post and time-lapse videos for those.
Thank you again for all of your excitement surrounding this series! I absolutly love reading through your comments! They help fuel my excitement and creativity. Was The February Dress what you were envisioning? Let me know what you think in the comments below, I would love to hear!
If you don’t know how to sew but are interested in learning, make sure you check out my online sewing courses for beginner and intermediate sewers.
This is absolutely stunning!! I love watching this series! ❤️
Gorgeous! Every month I think how hard it’ll be to top that dress, but you do it, every month just keeps getting better. You’re so incredibly talented!
LOVE this dress Leanne! I keep saying “yep this is my favorite!” and then you do it again and the new one is my favorite! The color is gorgeous on you and those shoes are to DIE for! LOVE!
Leanne, this dress is amazing!!! I loved your December dress, but this one took my breath away. I love this great series!!
I have been “following” your blog for years, and I don’t think I have ever commented. But I had to this time! I absolutely LOVE the February dress! All of your monthly dress series dresses have been amazing, but this one is my very favorite! It is so feminine and beautiful!
Oh my goodness! This is completely stunning! I absolutely love this dress! It’s incredible!! You did a wonderful job!!
Wow! This is SO much more than I imagined! This dress is just stunning. You could wear this to the Oscars and still outshine everyone else on the red carpet! It is so so beautiful!!
By far, the best dress!!! Gorgeous!!
I love the elegance of this dress, I am amazed this only took you 16 hours! This would be the perfect pink millennial wedding dress!
This dress is so magical!!! Well done!
I literally gasped when I saw this dress. LEANNE IT’S BEAUTIFUL
Definitely a dress fit for the queen you are!! I always wonder what you do with the dresses after you have finished with them. Do you keep them all? If not, it must be so hard to part with them!!!
This is stunning! By far my favorite dress that you’ve done so far!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Oh my gosh!! I want one just like it! So stunning.
Definitely my favorite monthly dress so far. Stunning!
Loved it so much. You just keep outdoing yourself. You can tell you are so passionate about the process as well as the final product. That is when you know you really love fashion. Can’t wait until the next one!
Jenn
I love this monthly dress series so much! What a perfect dress for February! You look absolutely stunning. Your work on the dress is so incredible.
https://www.yooying.one/
Omg.. I love you dress? this amazing!!!!!