Empire Waist Mini-Dress

As usual, I got inspired by the fabric. This was a green, black and yellow patterned lycra. To make a whole model in this flashy pattern was excessive, so I decided to combine it with black cotton/lycra and make a dress out of this combination.
I've always been a fan of empire cut dresses (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_silhouette) because they are so flattering to non-perfect bodies like mine ;-)
I found none in my pattern magazines, so I decideI to make a composititon here too. I found a tight bodice empire cut dress, which gave me the bodice and the sleeves (which I made bigger and longer, but kept the part attached to the bodice as in the original pattern). With the skirt i made several experiments. I tried to gather it completely before uniting it to the bodice, but when I tried it on I looked like a ballon. Then I tried deep folds in the middle of front and back, avoiding the lateral parts to avoid volume in that area.
The result is lovely, confortable and becoming, and combines very nicely with different lenght leggins or dark, thick stockings. Here I'm wearing Nine West ballerinas.