Wakanda Forever! (Nakia's Casino Dress)

Note: I finished this project and wrote this blog post way back in October of 2018. Don't ask me how it didn't get published to my website until now. But anyway, please read on!

Ok so this project took WAY longer than I thought it was going to (for several reasons) and not only did it test my patience, it tested my confidence. I feel like this happens to me a lot with sewing projects because I don’t fully think them through and in my mind, I can whip them up super quick…LOL. Then, of course, reality hits and I realize that I probably bit off way more than I could chew. I definitely failed to take several important factors into account, such as how much free time I would have to work on the project, how the fabric will behave, whether or not the pattern was within my current skill level, etc. I became very overwhelmed and almost let this project go. I mean why stress myself out so much over a costume, right? But that’s why I’m so blessed to have married the man I did. He reminded me that disaster or success, this project was going to teach me something, and if I don’t try, I’ll miss the lesson. So, try I did. And I’m so excited to share what I learned. But before I get to that, let’s talk about why I chose this costume in the first place.

I knew I wanted to make a costume from the movie Black Panther as soon as the movie came out. As a black woman, seeing people that look like me as the main characters in a mainstream superhero movie (not sidekicks, thugs, or slaves) was a HUGE moment. I wanted to be a part of it in as many ways as I could. I was moved by many of the movie’s characters, particularly Shuri and Nakia, two fiercely independent, strong, smart black women. I decided to go with Nakia because that dress she wore in the casino scene was straight FIRE!!! It’s something I would have picked even if it wasn’t a costume. It’s just a kick-ass dress and I wanted one! Lol.

In hindsight, there were definitely easier options for a costume than this dress. The fabric was impossible to find, which meant I needed to either have it custom printed, or go through the painstaking and time-consuming process of hand painting or embroidering it myself. I went with option A, because I already did the hand-painting thing for my husband’s T’Challa costume and knew from the experience that there was no way I was going to have enough time to do that with this project. Thankfully, I was able to get a copy of the geometric print in digital form. I got permission from the creator to use it, but not to share it, so I can’t help you get your hands on it, but it seems like it wouldn’t be hard to create it in a drawing app, so that could be an option if you’re thinking about making one for yourself.

I went with Fabric On Demand because I read some reviews saying that Spoonflower doesn’t print dark colors very well and I didn’t want my dress to look faded. I wasn’t 100% pleased with the fabric OR the service from Fabric On Demand, but I have no idea if Spoonflower would have been any better and I wasn’t entirely displeased either. I will say that the prices are higher than I’d like to pay for fabric (custom printed or otherwise), but for this project I bit the bullet and paid the price.

The fabric I ordered was called “yoga jersey knit”. I went with it because the inspiration dress looked very form fitting and I wanted a fabric with enough stretch. I ordered a few swatches and I liked the feel and look of that one the best. I ordered 3 yards. I would have liked to get more, but I was breaking the bank as it is, so 3 yards would have to do. I submitted my order and waited for the fabric to arrive.

In the meantime, I went to JoAnn’s and got some cheap fabric with a similar amount of stretch. I made a muslin of McCall’s 6838 and was pretty pleased with how the muslin turned out, but I got to thinking about pattern matching since my custom fabric has such a bold print. I wanted to eliminate as many seams as possible and the skirt had too many panels that would have made pattern matching a nightmare (and remember I only ordered 3 yards). So, I decided to keep the bodice, but use the skirt from McCall’s 7684 instead.

So now that I had a plan, all I needed was my fabric. I assumed it would arrive in a few days, but then received a message that my order had been returned to them for some reason. I never saw any package. So, I e-mailed back and forth with customer service and they said they’d send it out again right away. I waited several days. Nothing arrived. I asked for a tracking number. Got one, but there was no movement on it. It appeared to just be sitting in a warehouse somewhere. After a few more days, I contacted customer service again and they agreed to send someone to check on the status of my package. The next day there was finally some movement on the tracking number and two days later I had my fabric. I was extremely frustrated because I do most of my sewing on the weekends (I’m a full-time teacher by day) and the extra waiting caused me to miss an entire weekend of sewing time. So, if I wasn’t behind before, now the time crunch was really serious.

My main frustration with the fabric (aside from how long it took me to receive it) was that it’s only printed on one side and the underside is white. I knew this ahead of time (because the swatches are the same) but I didn’t realize until I sewed it up just how much of the underside was going to show and how much it was going to bug me! I ended up having enough fabric left to line the back of the dress, but not the side or front panels, unfortunately. So, I just did my best to hide it in my photos. I would have made the front slits higher, but I was worried about even more of the white showing through.

I didn’t realize how difficult pattern matching was, and after trying to make all the boxes line up correctly across seam lines (and failing, and trying again, failing again, rinse repeat), I may stay away from prints for the foreseeable future. I definitely want my next project to be one that doesn’t hurt my brain so much lol. My pattern matching isn’t perfect, but I think for a beginner it’s pretty good!

I ran into some fit issues because I decided to interface the entire bodice to provide more support, but I lost a lot of the stretch doing that, so to fix the issue I ended up having to add two small panels at the back. Not a perfect solution, but it works. This was also my first time working with boning and I think I did a pretty good job attaching the casings into the bodice.

I didn’t have pattern pieces for the neck cuff or the piece that connects it to the bodice, so I just experimented until I thought it looked close to the original and then attached 3 black Kam Snaps for the closure at the back of the neck.

For the arm sleeve thingies I used Simplicity 8718.

And that’s it! Costume complete!

So what did I learn? I learned that I need to plan my projects out better. I learned how to attach boning to a bodice. I learned to think about the stretch of the fabric when deciding what size to cut. I learned that pattern matching is no joke! Lol, and I learned (once again) that if I put my mind to something, I can get it done. I may not be a warrior of Wakanda, but I’m the warrior of my sewing space!

I had a great time taking photos with my husband in his T’Challa costume. I realize that our costumes aren’t from the same scene in the movie, but these were the two looks that I really wanted to make so I’m happy. We were able to get some great shots overlooking St. Louis. It’s no Wakanda, but it’s our home and we love it.