Spending any amount of time within my online sphere you will soon discover that I never grew out of my ‘space is cool’ phase. I’ve always gravitated towards stars, moons, galaxies and anything celestial (I mean, check out my wedding in case you need more convincing), so with that, it’s time to revisit a sewing project we looked at a few months back. Being an avid reader and a lover of fantasy novels, I’ve already created a dress inspired by Sarah J. Maas’s series, ‘A Court of Thorns and Roses’ using Butterick 6018. This dress was supposed to be a 1950’s simple day dress inspired by the night court and although I enjoyed its creation, it didn’t quite “get there” for me. It was a lovely dress but I personally felt it felt a little costume-y and although it glowed in the dark (it’s the easiest dress to find when dressing in the dark), I wanted to give the idea of creating an ACOTAR gown another go so that’s todays project.

Please note: this post contains book spoilers. Continue reading at your own discretion.

Inspiration:
In my previous ACOTAR sewing project post, I gave a brief peek into the world of Feyre Archer and her adventures in the fairy realm so I won’t go into too much detail. Since we’ve already made a dress that Feyre could wear is she were a lady of the Night Court in the 1950s, I wanted to elevate this idea and create a gown inspired by Starfall Night and a gown suitable for that of the High Lady of the Night Court. Starfall Night is was such a huge turning point in the series and of course the second book in the whole series, A Court of Mist and Fury. For me, the scene was so romantic; Starfall is a celebration of the yearly migration of spirits seen across the sky. It is so beautiful that even the members of the Court of Nightmares crawl out of Hewn City to look at the sky and it is only possible to see it in the Night Court. When Feyre attends her first Starfall, she is on a balcony where Rhysand comes to apologize for ignoring her. While they talk about Starfall, one of the spirit-stars splatters onto Feyre, causing her to laugh. Rhysand is left awestruck seeing Feyre laugh for the first time. Another, larger star sprinkles its glow all over Rhysand’s left side, his face, and his left hand. Feyre, without thinking, steps forward, grabs Rhys’s hand, and paints for the first time since Under the Mountain. She then looks up at Rhys and smiles, also for the first time. He is enraptured and asks her to smile again. They dance for the rest of the night.

Finding the Right Sewing Pattern:
With this event in mind, I wanted to use this as inspiration for what Feyre would wear when she attend Starfall as High Lady of the Night Court. I had a lot of fun browsing Pinterest for inspiration and I’ll share some of those images on my YouTube video so go and check that out there. I wanted my gown for Starfall as High lady of the Night Court to be stunning, unique but also keeping it true to my style and making it vintage. It took a lot of time to browse patterns, and create my vision board but I couldn’t be happier with the overall planning process. I wanted a true vintage ball gown pattern where I could incorporate celestial elements keeping it elegant and romantic. I eventually was able to narrow down my patterns to the final two and after a brief discussion with a few friends, they all chose Vogue 1327 from 1948. I found this pattern digitally copied and sold on The Vintage Pattern Shop and it was luckily on sale at the time which is always a plus.

Vogue 1327 originally released in 1948, is a rare couture ball gown pattern which features a boned bodice with a split centre angled neckline and angled darts for a fitted finish. The neckline also has a detailed folded edge with a centre back zip closure. The bodice is attached to an over skirt with a short front section and longer back with a very slight train. The underskirt of the dress is attached to a skirt yoke before being all attached into one finished garment. The pattern also has a matching belt to complete the ensemble. The pattern sold by The Vintage Pattern Shop came in a size 38 with a 38″ bust, 32″ waist and 41″ hips. This pattern is several sizes too big for me so I knew I would have to adjust it as I went on as well as create a few other alterations.

Since my original creation of this gown (over a year a go at this point), Vogue has since come out with a re-release of this pattern under the new name of Vogue V1963. Although I don’t own this pattern and can’t compare the old to the new, by Vogue releasing this stunning vintage pattern, it means it can now easily be found and purchased in a range of sizes which may suit modern body shapes better.

Project Plan:
As this gown is to be High Lady of the Night Court inspired, I wanted to make a few adjustments so let’s have a look at the plan. Vogue 1963 features a structured bodice with darts, boning and a collar neckline edge. The skirt is separated into an overskirt and and underskirt. The original pattern creates the underskirt by attaching it to a yoke which is then further attached to the bodice/overskirt combination. For my project, I want to mess around with the pattern and turn this single garment into two pieces. The first will be the bodice attached to the overskirt. I plan on making this out of satin and then later adding some star buttons and star studs for details later.
The underskirt will be made separately by forming a circle skirt out of satin and then adding glitter tulle over the top. By turning this garment into two separate pieces, they can be worn separately or together, as well as make transport and putting it on a bit easier.

Acquiring Materials :
To challenge my own sewing skills this year, I wanted to try using fabrics that I am not familiar with; between velvet and imitation satin, my budget could only really allow imitation satin so that was my main fabric of choice. I chose a deep navy blue satin for the bodice and over skirt as I thought it would make a great basis inspired by the night sky. This fabric will also be used as the base circle skirt for the underskirt piece.
This was the satin I chose: a pretty navy satin on sale from Spotlight which was a great price (yay for a sale!). It was a good width and I was really happy with the colour. I ordered 7 meters to begin with and ended up going back for another 5 meters after deciding to make the underskirt a circle skirt using my own pattern for a total of 12 meters although I could have cut it down to 11 had I ordered it all in one go.
The dress would be paired with some pretty shoes and a plethora of gaudy and ridiculous jewellery, most of which came from my wedding.
I wanted to add some glitter tulle as tulle in general is a fabric I haven’t really worked with and although this project was close to my soul, I wanted to still make it a challenge as hopefully the end will justify the means. I found this glitter tulle on Etsy from a seller I have purchased from before so I ordered 10 yards. Here is where I wish I had some foresight, at the time of ordering my tulle, I wasn’t sure if I was going to gather my tulle and then attach it to my skirt or create a circle skirt overlay. Both were good options but I do wish I ordered an extra 10 yards so I had more wiggle room but we will touch on this later.
When it came to lining, I ended up using some old navy cotton fabric I had in my stash from previous projects and I used that for lining and underlining (as the satin felt very soft and this would give it more structure).

One thing that drew me in with this pattern is the flow of the overskirt edges and I immediately knew I wanted to add horsehair braid to give the skirt a movement which will hopefully mimic the flow of water and add to the celestial vibes over all. I found this navy horsehair braid on Etsy and I was able to buy 22 yards of it which was more than enough but I do wish I was able to get a thinner briad as 2 inches was a bit thick.
I already had some steel boning left over from previous projects so I planned to use that as well as an invisible zip I already had on hand.

The celestial element I wanted to add came in the form of silver star claw beads which you punch through fabric before pushing down backing points. I found a pack of 125 silver stars in various sizes and purchased about 4 packets for about $15 each (price has gone up unfortunately since this project) which was a good amount. For these claw beads, I also had some balsa wood blocks and a small hammer to properly adhere the star to my gown but more on that later.
Finally, as I have been planning this project for several years in my head, two Christmas’s ago, I found four packets of silver star buttons at Spotlight which were heavily reduced (from $10 down to $2) and I’ve had them in my stash ever since.
With all of my fabrics and materials acquired, the pattern selected and a basic plan for my project complete, it was time to actually start this project.

Sew, let’s get started.

If you’ve never purchased a pattern from The Vintage Pattern Shop, you may not know how it works. Basically, all the patterns you buy from this shop are professional reprints sent to you on large sheets of paper (it’s thicker than normal pattern paper but not ridiculously thick to the point where it’s a pain). You also get sent the instructions and a booklet to help you figure out how to create your ideal garment. The first thing I did was cut out all the pieces I needed and using some tape, I connected some of my pieces together as they were clearly too large to fit onto one sheet of paper. This was clearly marked on the pattern pieces at multiple points so it wasn’t a big issue. With my pattern cut out, I now ready to cut out my fabric.
Note: If you plan on purchasing the reprinted pattern Vogue 1963, you won’t have to worry about putting your pattern pieces together and you are also able to cut out your exact size whereas I had the one size and had to bring her in a little bit.

Satin isn’t an easy fabric to work with, especially cheap imitation satin as it’s very slippery and I didn’t have anything to really help me battle the slip. After taking up every inch of my sewing room floor, I started cutting out my pattern pieces. I used a combination of my scissors and my rotary cutter to try and minimise the movement of the fabric and keep it as uniform as possible. The biggest pieces were of course the underskirt satin circle skirt. To cut out these pieces, I began by measuring the distance from my waist to the floor whilst wearing shoes and adding an extra inch. I ended up taping my fabric to the floor to stop it moving which was a great idea. Using a template for a circle skirt with a 28″ waist size, from this edging, I marked my skirt length and cut out my piece. I then did the same for the second half of the circle skirt and I hung up the pieces to drop on the bias for 24 hours.
It was at this time I also cut out my lining pieces from my left over navy cotton. As I was cutting both lining and underlining from the navy cotton, every pattern piece for the bodice was cut out twice and then I hand basted the satin outer fabric to the cotton underlining before starting any actual sewing. This really helped my further down the road.

Sewing the bodice
Starting with the bodice, I marked out the darts which were angled from the front bodice centre line going up into bust. With these sewn down, I then sewed the two front pieces together down the centre seam. I wanted to make sure the darts perfectly aligned so it took me a few adjustments before I was really happy. I know satin is difficult to work with but I wanted to create the best garment I could so taking time to line things up as perfectly as I can took some work. With the front constructed, I sewed on the bodice side panels and encountered a few very thick fabric layers (remember the extra underlining? she was worth it though) and I had the outer layer of my bodice done.
Turning my attention to my lining, I followed the same steps as above until I had my darts sewn, the bodice front sewn down and then the sides attached. From here, it was time to add some boning to the lining which I did by sewing down boning channels along the inner seam lines (they will be turned so the boning is hidden inside the bodice). My boning channels are basically thick bias tape which I sew along the sides and the top which leaves a small sleeve for me to insert my boning into. You can get normal boning channel tape which works really well, or you can use bias tape like me if you’re stuck (I actually ordered this as boning channel tape but was sent the wrong thing and it works just fine).
As my boning is steel, I use a strong pair of wire cutters to snip the boning at the length I need it to be. I tend to make my boning a bit too long so I did have to trim down a few pieces. When my pieces were all cut, I used teflon tape to seal the ends so they don’t slice up my skin. With my boning all protected, I then inserted my boning into each channel I made and my lining was basically done.
Note: Since making this dress over a year ago, I have since gone back and pulled the bodice apart to sew in more boning channels. I added an extra four into the bodice especially into the neckline peaks so their shape stayed upright and didn’t droop too much. I’m so glad I’ve done this as now the dress sits really well on the body so I would recommend adding extra boning.

With my boning all done, it was time to sew the collar pieces. Already having the outer pieces basted to the underlining cotton, I assembled each side of the collar along the sides making sure to trim excess seam allowance along the way. Sewing the lining the same way didn’t take me long as the collar pieces were all pretty straight and easy to sew. Combining the outer fabric collar pieces to the lining was done along the top and sides before the collar was pinned and sewn along the top edge of the bodice outer front piece. When I was happy with the placement and how it all lined up, I added the bodice lining to the bodice outer fabric right sides together so when they were sewn, I could flip the bodice inside out and all the seams were hidden and the collar was tucked in neatly along the neckline.

The final steps in the bodice creation included sewing some understitching along the top neckline as far as I could as this would cause the lining to sit tucked behind the bodice outer fabric and not stick out, pucker or warp. This step was really helpful in the long run. To finish up the bodice, I basted and cleaned up all the edges to make sure they were together, flat and even.

Sewing the Overskirt
Creation of the overskirt was pretty simple as the hardest part was just dealing with a large awkward fabric piece. Since it was already cut out and I didn’t have to attach it to underlining, all I had to do was sew the two overskirt pieces together in a simple straight stitch which I overlocked as well. Once together, I sewed two basting stitch rows along the waistline which I used to help gather my overskirt to fit my bodice waistline. As the satin was so soft and slippery, I found gathering it a little fiddly as I wanted to make sure the gathers were evenly spaced and I think personally I wanted a bit more fabric added for fuller gathers. Once gathered, I pined the overskirt to the waistline of the bodice and sewed the two pieces together. I went ahead and did some fitting and adjustment to the bodice/overskirt piece at this stage and although I’m not the best at altering patterns to fit me, I think a few nips and tucks along the seams made a world of difference. When I was happy with the fit, I added an invisible navy zip and turned my attention to the hem of the overskirt.

As the satin I chose was so soft, I wanted my ACOTAR gown to have a bit more shape and flow to it. Enter horsehair braid (or crinoline). Incase you are unfamiliar, horsehair braid (or crinoline) is a stretchy “tape” or “ribbon” made out of plastic thread that’s woven together to make a stretchy and bendy ribbon. It used to be made out of horsehair, hence the original name of horsehair braid. This crinoline ribbon is sewn onto the hems of garments to give it volume and shape as the tape won’t fold or bend. It really is a beautiful effect and has been used for eons. To get the most out of my horsehair braid, I started by measuring out how much I would need to attach to the hemline of the overskirt. With that length cut, I bound the ends with some navy bias tape as crinoline can get very scratchy and sharp.

To attach the crinoline, I started by sewing it to the front/outer part of my overskirt hem. I sewed it 5/8″ from the seam (normal/standard width), making sure not to pull, tug or stretch crinoline as I sewed as this creates warps. Once that was done, I turn the crinoline to the inside of the hem, give it a very soft iron down and then I very slowly hand sewed the top the the crinoline in my best invisible stitch to the skirt. In some modern gowns, it’s popular to just sew the second crinoline seam using a machine but this leaves a very obvious seam line along your skirt. I personally don’t like this seam line being visible which is why I chose to hand sew it down once again. This took me a while to do but I don’t regret my decision and I’m so happy with how it came out. We have used horsehair braid in previous projects; check out this one! My bodice/overskirt layer was complete so it was time to turn my attention to the underskirt.

Sewing the Underskirt
By this point, my circle skirt pieces had been already cut out and hanging up for 24 hours as I wanted the bias to drop (this helps even hemming later). Sewing a circle skirt isn’t too difficult so I went ahead and sewed my two semi circle pieces into one massive circle piece. At this point I cut out a piece of interfacing two inches wide and about an arms lengths long (sorry I didn’t measure), and then ironed that piece onto the inside of my skirt where I would be placing my zip. I wanted my skirt seams on the sides so that meant I had to slice into my skirt to create a slit for my zip. By ironing on some interfacing where I plan to put my zip and then cutting down the interfacing strip, the zip edges are reinforces and have a bit more stability. This meant my circle skirt base for my underskirt was ready to be put on my dress form as I turned my attention to the glitter tulle.

After playing with the tulle for a few minutes, I came to two options:
A) I could cut out another massive circle skirt and drape that over the satin circle skirt. This would be very soft and flow-y but not have a lot of drama or volume.
B) I could gather the full 10 yards of tulle and sew it to the top of satin as this would create texture and volume plus hopefully give lots of sparkle.

With much deliberation over a cup of tea, I decided to go with option B. I wanted my underskirt to have some volume and drama and had I had much much more little tulle where I could add several layers of circle skirts over the satin, I figured that using the tulle and gathering it, I’ll get a full and fluffy look. I know ACOTAR fashion styling is generally tight fitting and sleek, but I wanted to stay true to the dresses era and creating a different ACOTAR look than one might be used to. Looking back I don’t regret my decision.

Gathering 10 yards of tulle to fit my waist wasn’t going to be easy and I went through a few gathering methods before I got something that worked. I started by sewing a hand baste stitch but then I realised I would probably pass away from old age before I was ever done. I then tried sewing two gathering stitches on my machine but the fabric was just too thin and kept catching on itself so that was out. It was then that I went back to my old faithful gathering message; dental floss. I sewed a wide zig zag stitch over the top of a piece of dental floss along the top edge of my tulle. Once done, all I had to do was push the tulle along the floss and it created a simple and easy gather. No idea why I didn’t do this first.
Once gathered, I laid my tulle over the top of my satin circle skirt along the waistline and used clips to hold it together. When I was happy with the gathers, I sewed the tulle onto the satin in probably the slowest sewing I’ve ever done. 10 yards is a lot to squeeze into about 27 inches so the tulle was very thick to sew which meant going nice and slow was paramount. I was so happy once the tulle was attached as I was finally able to create a waistband and finish off the main part of my underskirt.

My waistband was made out of some dark blue cotton I already had in my scraps and after ironing out the wrinkles I cut out a strip about 5 inches wide and approximately 30 inches long. Making sure to add some interfacing to the inside of the waistband, this ensured it had a bit more structure and strength as it was going to hold up a lot of tulle. I ironed down the edges of the waistband and then folded the band in half before ironing it once again; this creates all the shaping and makes the rest of the process easy.
I opened the waistband and then put my skirt waistline along the inner middle waistband seam and then pinned the waistband closed. From here, I sewed my waistband closed and in the process entrapping he skirt waistline perfectly. To finish the waistband I added a hook and bar closure and another invisible zip to the back of the underskirt.

The last thing the underskirt needed was to be hemmed. I placed my skirt on my dress form and then began measuring out how long I needed my skirt. I wanted the skirt to be about an inch or two off the ground so my shoes wouldn’t catch as I walked; I also needed to add for the fact that I planned to wear this gown with a hoop skirt. When I finally found the sweet spot, I used my sewing scissors to cut my satin skirt layer and then my rotary blade and cutting mat to cut the tulle. My final addition to the underskirt was to hem the satin skirt piece which didn’t take too long.

Adding Celestial Charm
Put together, my gown looked really stunning and I was already so proud of it but I wanted to add some celestial charm in the form of buttons and studs. This process started by deciding how I wanted my stars to be laid out and from there I started by adding some star studs to the collar. If you haven’t used these types of studs before, each stud has several sharp prongs on the back and you push the stud into your fabric and then fold the prongs over the back which cause the stud to adhere and grip the fabric. I found that by having a thimble on my thumb I could bend the prongs without putting too much pressure on my fingers or stabbing myself by accident and from there, I got a small hammer and propped the stud up on a small piece of balsa wood before giving a few gentle whacks. Before I knew it, my collar was done and I moved onto the overskirt hem.

As the overskirt is a hi-low skirt/mullet skirt, I wanted to scatter my stars with a higher concentration closer to the hem and then dissipating the further up the dress they went. To help with scattering the stars evenly, I started by hand sewing on the stars starting with the larger ones and taking my time to attach each one. As attaching stars was the last thing I needed to do for my dress, I was happy to just put on some music, listen to an audiobook and enjoy the process. It took several hours to hand sew on all the stars and then go back and add more and more star studs to the skirt until I finally stopped fiddling. With the final stud smacked into the skirt, my ACOTAR vintage ball gown was complete.

The results:

This project has been on the back burner for years and I knew I wanted her to be photographed in a special way once she was done. Way back at my last Sherbet Birdie shoot, I was chatting with Sasha when she mentioned she saw a photo of my reading ACOTAR online which prompted her to read the series and inevitable become obsessed with it. It was from this conversation that this gown was styled to be shot and I knew that I would be taking this dress to Sydney once she was complete. I am going to write up a separate blog about the whole shoot including all the details and behind the scenes and of course, I will be sharing the final images there too as they deserve their moment.

I am so incredibly proud of this gown and although she is far from perfect, I’ve never made anything quite this fiddly or complex and I am really happy with the final results. To put the dress on I start with my hoop skirt and then put the underskirt on onto of that. Here I make sure the tulle is fluffed down as it does tend to get stuck on itself due to the glitter. When I’m happy with the underskirt, I put the bodice and overskirt onto and then reflux my overskirt. This gown is quite light and very easy to transport, I will be honest and say that after shoots and use it kind of just gets shoved into a bag (I really need to figure something out that works better to store this dress).

If you’ve been around the blog or my socials, you might have already seen how this gown came out as I recently wore her for the Cooly Rocks On Pageant and I took out the winning title whilst wearing her. I paired her with some navy gloves and matching shoes, and then added a star halo head piece which I got from my wedding. This gown was a dream to wear for this event as she was comfortable and caused quite a reaction when I came out on stage. I loved how she sparkled and shimmered on stage and I couldn’t have been happier with how she looked when the lights hit her. You can check out more photos here.

Cooly Rocks On Pinup Pageant 2024 Recap

It really was a joy to create an ACOTAR inspired vintage gown and although it’s not a direct cosplay, I have had a few people already comment that it’s giving Feyre-vibes which is all the compliment I’ll ever need. Getting to share my love of reading and books through the medium of fabric and sewing is really a fun and special experience and it’s inspired me to do a similar project again soon.

Final thoughts
The ACOTAR series has always held a great comfort for me so being able to turn this fantasy world into something in the physical world was really a great experience. Being able to take the themes and elements of a story I love so much and turn it into a garment which has already brought me so much joy and many great memories, is really a magical experience. Although this project took years to get off the ground and then over a year before it was ever shared online, has really given me time to adjust and alter the dress to be better and better. My High Lady of the Night Court vintage gown really is something I will treasure and I do hope to continue sewing more projects of a similar nature.

With ACOTAR being super popular online and on social media, especially with BookTok being a thing, it’s been amazing to watch so many new people discover ACOTAR and also fall in love with it. I’ve really enjoyed seeing other people start to craft, sew and cosplay as their favourite characters and it’s been so much fun to be able to contribute to that as well. Although I may not get around to sewing anything from ACOTAR for the next little while, this project has really made me want to get back into my Studio Ghibli series and keep trying to make new things.

I do encourage you to check out how this gown was shot with Sherbet Birdie as the experience really was amazing. I cannot wait for that blog to come out and as soon as it does, I’ll link it here. It’s really been a joy to share this sewing project with you.

Note: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions and thoughts expressed are solely my own and not influenced in any way. This page contains affiliate links/codes which aids in funding future projects.