Cocktail dresses hold a special place in a closet. They are a bit fancy and get photographed a lot since they are typically only worn to special events. They have to be comfortable enough to spend an evening in and hold up to a night of dancing. When I think of cocktail dresses, I think about structured silhouettes, vibrant colors, and special details.

I realized that I had multiple weddings coming up in the summer that were cocktail attire, and so I scoured the Fabric Wholesale Direct website for some structured fabric. When I scrolled to the neoprene and scuba material section, I knew I had to have this royal blue embossed neoprene. The fabric is a little shiny, structured, and has such a special pattern and texture to it that lent itself perfectly to a simple cocktail dress silhouette!

Using the embossed neoprene, I constructed a simple ruffled skirt which is just two large rectangles with ruching at the top. For the top, I went back and forth on a couple of designs, but ultimately created a fitted, strapless shape to let the pattern shine. I had planned to install a zipper into the side of the dress, but it really stretched quite well without one, so I figured I would leave it out and make this pattern even easier to create!

A bonus about using this geometric embossed fabric? It already has lines built into it to make cutting and sewing even easier! If you want to make your own neoprene cocktail dress, head to Fabric Wholesale Direct’s blog for my tutorial!

Thank you to Fabric Wholesale Direct for sponsoring this blog post. All designs, photos, and opinions are my own.