Lace Applique A-Line Gown with Scoop Neck

Applique is placed one piece at a time, and on this gown it is placed sparsely. The Lace Applique A-Line Gown with Scoop Neck scatters lace motifs across a plain tulle skirt with clear ground between them, so the gown is decorated without being covered, which is a register very few formal gowns occupy.

Scattered Rather than Covered

An allover lace skirt is a single texture from waist to hem, and it reads as one dense surface at any distance. A scattered applique leaves most of the tulle plain and puts motifs where the eye lands.

The difference is density rather than quality. This gown has somewhere for the light to pass through, so the skirt keeps the lightness of tulle instead of taking on the weight of lace, and the motifs read individually rather than as pattern.

A Scoop Neck and a Crossed Back

The front is deliberately plain: a scoop neckline on slender straps with nothing worked into it. That restraint is what lets a scattered skirt register at all, since a decorated bodice would compete with it.

The straps cross at the back, which is where the construction becomes the design. Crossing gives the bodice four points of support instead of two, so the gown sits more securely than a plain spaghetti strap of the same width, and it gives the back of the gown something to look at.

Bridesmaids and Spring Formals

Sage and blue are both soft and neither competes with a bridal party, which places this gown at a bridesmaid line, a spring wedding as a guest, a garden reception or a formal graduation.

The gown is cut in sizes 2, 4 and 6. Three bands at the small end of the range is a narrow window for a bridesmaid gown in particular, where every member of a party has to fit the same design, so check the whole group against the table before a color is chosen.

Three Bands Two Colors

Both colors are cut across the bands offered.

Every figure above is in inches and is taken on the body rather than on the finished garment, so measure the fullest part of the bust, the narrowest part of the waist an inch or two above the navel, and the fullest part of the hips.

Order on the bust figure and treat the hips as informational, since an A-line skirt in tulle falls away from the waist and never touches them. Where two bands look possible, take the larger and have the side seams brought in, which is quick work on an unlined bodice and impossible in the other direction.

Applique, Hems and Care

Can an appliqued skirt be hemmed? Yes, but the motifs near the hem have to be worked around or moved, so it costs more than hemming plain tulle. Decide the shoe before the fitting rather than after.

Will the applique catch on anything? Individual motifs sit proud of the tulle, so a ring, a bracelet clasp or a chain strap can hook one. A clutch is the safer bag, and a caught motif is usually restitched rather than lost.

What can be worn under crossed back straps? Adhesive cups. There is no horizontal position that the crossing straps would hide, and a low-back converter still needs a band this back does not have room for.

How should tulle be stored? Hanging, with the skirt free and nothing compressed against the motifs. Applique flattens under weight and the tulle beneath it takes a set, and both show at the hemline where the eye travels.