Traditional African Wedding | Simplicity 8394

 Hello Friends! I'm back, and I have been SEWING; just haven't been sharing much...UNTIL NOW lol

I was invited to a friend's Traditional Nigerian wedding ceremony and in the invitation, they made the guests aware of the theme color of the wedding. The color was MAGENTA. So I went into my stash looking for dressy-ish fabrics that would fit into the theme.

 I found this Thai Silk that was gifted to me by a woman who is like my grandmother. She gave me this piece of silk and another one back in 2013 when I was FIRST learning how to sew! It was actually at her kitchen table where I learned how to properly thread my machine and I made my very first stitches.

I wish I had taken a picture of the fabric before cutting it, but these labels came inside of the rolled fabric and I thought it was so cool to see the care instructions come with such a delicate piece of fabric.

This pattern is MimiG x Simplicity 8394. I cut the size 16 for this top. I actually made the skirt in the pattern as well, but after almost FINISHING it, when I tried it on, I hated the way it fit so I binned it. I needed this outfit for the next day, so I didn't have time to make many adjustments.

The lining fabric was a remnant from JoAnn fabrics, which is also where I picked up the boning to give the bodice structure. I ended up leaving the straps off of the top because I liked the way it looked when I tried it on to see how it was fitting before I got to the strap step. I decided that I would make the straps detachable so that I could wear the top both ways. I didn't have time to do it the few days I was working on the outfit, but that is something that I will have to do if I want to wear the top again.

It didn't quite stay up throughout the night, so the straps are going to be necessary for the future. I will put buttonholes on both ends of the strap and add small buttons inside the bodice.

I picked up the buttons from JoAnn Fabrics as well.

I was happy to have JUST enough fabric to make an interesting headwrap. I took the remaining fabric, squared off the edges, and hemmed. So it is just a rectangle of fabric that I twisted every which way until I decided it was cute lol

Although plaid doesn't fall under the African print/Ankara umbrella, I'm grateful that I got to participate in the theme in a way that still allowed me to stand out! The wedding was beautiful and came out of this experience with a very memorable garment.

Let me know what you think in the comments!

xoxo,

Tasha