New Year’s Eve Sparkle – Sewing with Sequined Stretch Velvet

Bringing the New Year’s Eve sparkle! What’s a happy new year celebration without a little shine and shimmer? When I bought this stunning sequined stretch velvet fabric in October I knew exactly when I’d wear it. I’m happy I brought it to life with this bodycon.

Sewing this dress was the perfect way to cap off a year of learning new skills and testing new fabrics. In January 2020 I conquered my fear of stretch knits by sewing my first dress in ponte. I played with brocade and made shorts from faux leather. With all of those new materials under my belt, I’ve grown far more confident in choosing the right needles and stitches to go through any fabric. I’ve been taking it slow sticking to this rule – always pair a new fabric with a tried and true pattern. That limits the difficulty of the project and helps to secure a positive outcome.

Since I’d sewed this pua tank twice before, I knew I’d have the perfect fit for my torso. I folded a length of paper and traced the top to the headline out. For the skirt, I measured the length from my waist to my hips and drafted the curves with some negative ease. And then I had a nightmare that I had mis-measured for the hips and so I graded out to an extra 1/2″ all around the hips just in case. When I basted the dress together to check fit I so happy for the extra inches because the dress fit perfectly! It conforms to my hips but isn’t too tight.

I was able to sew this dress in just a few hours on New Year’s Eve and get dressed up in time for champagne and fireworks. I’m happy that I didn’t let 2020 kill my vibe and keep me from sewing for party dress season. I’ll be wearing my red holiday dress and this sequined velvet bodycon for many parties to come!

Pattern

• Paradise Patterns Pua Tank
  • Get the pattern for free by signing up for Sanna’s email list
  • I made the #puatank pattern twice before
• Sewing Difficulty – 3/5
  • Sequin stretch velvet ups the difficulty level of this tank dress significantly!
• Fit Difficulty – 1/5
• I’d love to keep making variations of this pattern with different design hacks.

Fabric

• Deadstock Black sequined stretch velvet from Fabscrap
• I had 1 yard at 60″ wide
• See this fabric move in my haul video on YouTube

Modifications to the Pua Tank pattern for fit

• I cut a size 6 of the D cup variation for the top and drafted the skirt portion based on my measurements.
• The dress uses negative ease to contour to my shape. Here’s the difference between the pattern size and my size at key points:
  • Bust: -5″
  • Waist: +1″
  • Hip: -4″
• I used the yardage length so my dress is about 36″ from the high point shoulder to bottom, unhemmed. I haven’t figured out how I want to hem it yet because I don’t want to fold the sequins under to touch my legs.
• The fabric had a few inches of velvet without sequins along one selvage end which I used for the sleeve and neck bands. Unfortunately that meant cutting those pieces on the cross grain. There was stretch in both directions, but not quite as much. Because of that and my trouble with sewing fabric, the dress fits a little tight on my underarm.

Tips for Sewing Sequined Stretch Velvet

• Do not cut on the fold. Instead, copy your pattern onto new paper to have a full front and back pattern to lay flat on the fabric.
• Don’t use your good scissors to cut sequins if you can help it because the sequins will dull your blade. Also avoid a rotary cutter.
• Cut slowly. Since you have to apply a bit of force to cut through the sequins you run the risk of cutting astray.
• Always test your stitches on a scrap of fabric before sewing your garment.
• I used a 70/10 ball point needle to sew the stretch fabric. The needle went through the thin plastic sequins just fine as I did not remove any from the seam allowance prior to stitching.
• Have extra needles on hand. If you hit the sequins at the wrong angle it can cause your needle to bend or break.
• Slow down your stitching speed and listen closely. You may be able to hear any problems with your needle before you see the issue.
• Sew using a stretch stitch or zigzag. Do not put the sequins into your serger/overlocker.
• Don’t use a double needle to finish the arm and neck bands. That needle is too expensive to subject to the sequins.
• Absolutely no iron!