You know you had a good time at an event when you literally take zero photos! Last weekend was my third time attending the ball (I missed it last year because I had 2 weddings and it felt like a bridge too far to also go to the ball!). You can see my previous outfits, from 2017 and 2019 here.

I did, however, take some photos of my outfit before I went. I went for a different vibe this year and made a suit with a cape, inspired by this outfit worn by Billy Porter, which I saw at an exhibition last year.

Obviously the embroidery was outside of my skills and time frame so I decided to get a brocade to kind of the same vibe. I also wanted to make a kind of see-through shirt, but decided against that because of modesty (and also time, again – I left starting the whole thing too late to be fiddling with difficult fabrics!

This is my whole outfit! I’m pretty please with how it all turned out.

The shirt is a classic Archer shirt. I’ve made this pattern so many times, it seemed an obvious choice. I made my standard size with no fitting adjustments, though I didn’t include any pockets. The fabric was not ideal for a shirt – it’s a crepe, so the shirt is quite bouncey and doesn’t press well. I chose it mostly because of the colour match with the brocade. Basically all the fabric is synthetic which is not what I usually want to do, but I had limited options and not much time left.

I’m not sure why, but the sleeves on the shirt were a bit long. Maybe the fabric just got kinda stretched out a bit. All the fabric except the brocade was from Masons in Abingdon by the way. They have a pretty big selection, but if you’re looking for very specific colours, as I was, then your options are limited.

The trousers are made from the brocade, obvs. The brocade was from Anglian Fashion Fabrics in Norwich – I saw it in person in July and regret not buying it at the time. I wanted to shop around for different options, but couldn’t find anything I liked more. Their delivery is not ideal and their customer service leaves a lot to be desired so I can’t honestly recommend them sadly.

The pattern I used for the trousers was Butterick B6878, which I used for my backless linen suit too. I don’t use big 4 patterns very often and always forget how minimal the instructions are! I also decided to leave the welt pockets off the back for time and the fabric pressed okay but not great (because it’s synthetic) so I thought trying to get welt pockets crisp would be tricky.

I made the size 10 and did have to take it in a bit on the back and side seams. I initially over-fitted it – I made the classic mistake of fitting it without the waistband, then added the waistband and it was too tight. I let the seams out again and cut a new waistband and they ended up really comfortable. I hemmed them considerably shorter than the pattern calls for as they were way too long.

Quite late on I had an inspired idea to make a bow tie! There are a bunch of free patterns and I kind of combined both. There are some that are adjustable but I didn’t have the hardware I needed so I made it a fixed size. I also had to watch a few youtube videos to learn how to tie it, lol.

The jacket pattern I used was the Nina Lee Richmond blazer. I’ve made it once before. I made the size 8 both times, but I kind of knew it was a bit snug – but I was too lazy to reprint and reassemble it. The previous version never had a button so it didn’t matter that it was a bit snug over my hips. I made the jacket with no adjustments to begin with. Then after it was all finished, I unpicked the hem and let out the side and back seams out to 0.5cm instead of the standard 1.5cm from the waist downwards. This was enough to make it fit nicely around my hips!

You can kind of see from these photos that the fabric is not the nicest to press. I tried to press it nicely but synthetic fabrics, of course, don’t really hold a press. I top-stitched the whole front edge of the lapels so it would sit nicely.

I do really like the fit I achieved on the jacket (and trousers) and any outfit that has 4 pockets has got to be good – I didn’t need to take a bag, I could fit everything I needed in my pockets. I do really like the pockets on the Richmond blazer, and the instructions are really clear and easy to follow. The photographer at the ball asked if they were functional and I was like ‘of course!’. I guess she didn’t know how much sewists love a pocket!

And of course, the finishing item of the ensemble was the cape. I was worried I would feel too stupid to wear the cape, but it’s really fun to swish around in a cape! I used Simplicity 8721, which is like a costume cape pattern (which is kind of all you can get). I made it without the hood and lined it, to give the same surprise colour as the one Billy Porter wore.

It’s quite hard to capture the movement of the cape in photos. The 2 fabrics were really light weight, which was what I wanted to make sure it would have some movement.

I do love the bright pink lining – and the shoes were a flukey colour match since i ordered them online!

I really enjoyed making all of the items I wore – and I did have enough time to finish everything, not helped by the delayed fabric delivery though.

I went to the brunch the morning after the event and everyone was saying ‘so are you going next year?’ and I had so recently finished my outfit I couldn’t think of anything I would want to make/wear. But I have since had an idea so who knows…. And I would have almost a whole year to make my outfit (though I’m sure we all know I would still leave it to the last minute!).

It was really nice to meet so many new people – the sewing community is great that you can go to an event without knowing anyone and you can make friends by the end of the evening!