I used Simplicity 9891 for the body of the dress and McCall’s 3663 for the sleeves. Luckily, I discovered that I had enough black velvet in my fabric stash already. Also had enough black lining in my stash. Only fabric I needed to buy was the silky dark red fabric for the sash and the contrast in the neck and arm trim.
Completed the muslin for the bodice and sleeves. The dress pattern needed quite a bit of fitting in the bust because my healthy weight loss program really changed my body shape. In addition, I split the center front piece to get the look of the red triangle insert at the neckline. This also gave me a seam line to sew the buttons along. Lastly, I modified the sleeve pattern a lot to get the desired length and shape. I don’t like to draft patterns from scratch, but give me a pattern that’s halfway there, and I can tweak it to achieve the look I want.