More Volume

The quest continues to get more volume in the skirt.  Techniques to date include adding horse hair braid to the hem of the skirt and the petticoat lining and adding some more tulle to the petticoat.  But, the desired effect still has not been achieved.  The tulle is not stiff enough to hold the weight of the skirt and the horse hair braid is insufficient to do the job on its own.

So, the big guns have been brought out.  Crinoline would be great, but that is pretty hard to find.  So, research commenced using the Classic and Modern Fabrics book Sue and Don gave me for Christmas.  Cotton organdy has now been added to the project.  Two reasons for choosing this fabric:

1. It is very firm and retains is shape.  
2. I have 3 yards of it in my fabric stash.

The cotton organdy has been cut into four 11" strips of 3 yards.  A band of organdy is being hand applied to the bottom of the skirt to provide support and volume at the base of the skirt.  The remaining organdy will be gathered at 3 or 4 to 1 ratio and sewn onto the petticoat to provide additional volume underneath the skirt.

No pictures yet.  Maybe later today.

The skirt

The hand work on the skirt is finished (for now).  This includes the 2 hems and applying the lace to the skirt hem.  The skirt is ready to attach to the bodice.

I will start at the end with a picture of the various pieces pinned together.  This includes the scalloped ribbon trim that will be used for the belt and the petticoat.  The only thing missing from this picture is the remaining lace that will be applied to the skirt.  The amount and placement of the lace will be determined in two weeks during the final fitting session in NYC.

The dress

 The skirt is gaining more volume.  This volume was gained by sewing horse hair braid into the hem.  The horse hair braid was placed to overlap the bottom edge of the skirt by 1/4 inch and hand sewn in place.

Sewing the horse hair braid onto the skirt.

The raw edge was folded over the braid and the hem folded up to enclose the braid.  This keep the horse hair braid from snagging delicate materials such as stockings.  Plus it makes a very nice looking finish for the hem.  The hem is sewn in place catching only the silk organza underlining.  No stitches show through on the right side of the skirt.

The hem with the horse hair braid enclosed

The right side of the skirt

 A rolled hem has been used for the crepe de chine top skirt.  First, I used a serger to make a rolled hem to finish the raw edge and provide a basis for the roll to finish the hem.

Rolled hem made using the serger

 The rolled hem made using the serger was them double rolled and hand sewn in place to create a very narrow hem for this lightweight fabric.  I was able to complete a 10 foot hem in about 1 hour using this approach.  A totally hand sewn rolled hem takes forever.

Finished rolled hem

The lace was applied to the crepe de chine skirt as the last step.

The final dress fitting will take place in NYC on June 16.  You are invited to join the fitting, if you happen to be in NYC on June 16.  Refreshments will be served.

The bodice is finished

The final piece of chiffon was applied to the bodice last evening (or rather very early this morning).  Just to recap, the bodice shell is made from the silk/cotton fabric and is underlined with silk organza.  Gathered strips of silk chiffon are applied to the shell to give it a draped effect.  1 and 2/3 yards of silk chiffon were used in the construction of the bodice.

Here is the front view.

This is the side where the chiffon piece were pieced together.

This is the back view.

I used hand stitches to maintain the gathers.  Some of these stitches will be removed once the bodice and the skirt are joined together and I can see how the chiffon drapes.

Overall, this was a lot hand sewing.  My hope is that at the end of the day, the hand sewn stitches will be invisible and you will  only see the drape of the fabric.

Hand sewing is about as exciting to report on in a blog as paint drying.  So to spice it up a little bit, here are some pictures of the flowers blooming in my garden.

These are lady slippers, an orchid that grows wild in our neighborhood.  These are on the hill in front of our house.

The Updo

When I was in Boston a couple of weeks ago, I went for a practice hair appointment.  It took a while, but I feel like it paid off.  In the end, I had what I believe people with normal hair call ''volume."  This was a foreign concept to me, but I quite enjoyed it.  The stylist said it will be easier, faster, and--if I want--bigger for the real thing when I'll have an extra two inches of hair.

There will also be a fascinator perched on top.  I'm going for the trifecta of big head, big hair, and big hat.  I took notes, so I will try to replicate it for the other celebrations.

The whole thing definitely had staying power.  After the appointment I went to the driving range and hit a bucket of balls with my dad.  At the end, there was nary a hair out of place, although I did get some strange looks.

The Bodice

The bodice is the part of this project that I have been most nervous about because I do not have a pattern to work from and am making it up as I go.  I am pleased to report that progress is being made and my stress level regarding the bodice continues to go down with each day.

The bodice is constructed with a princess seamed v-neck foundation draped with silk chiffon.  The foundation is made from the cotton/silk blend with a silk organza underlining.  This foundation was made and fitted when Ginny was visiting two weeks ago.

The chiffon is sewn in place by hand.  The panels are cut 12 inches wide and then gathered to 3 inches before being pinned to and hand sewn onto the foundation.  I started on the left side of the bodice.

This is the left back.

 This picture of the right front shows how the chiffon is pinned in place.

 I then hand sew the chiffon to the foundation to create the draping effect.

 This shows details of the shoulder hand tucks and cap sleeve.

This shows the shoulder and sleeve from the front.  It also shows the hand stitching around the armhole to hold the chiffon in place.

The bodice should be completed soon.  I will then turn my attention to finishing the skirt before attaching the bodice to the skirt.  Almost all of the remaining construction will be done by hand.

The dress will be close to completion for the final fitting in NYC on June 15-18.  It will be completed by the Z family reunion on July 6.

The skirt construction continues

Hi all.  I am back after a long hiatus.

Ginny came to visit this past week.  This triggered a lot of dress fitting activity.    I had come to a standstill in the dress construction since late February because I needed to have a fitting for the bodice and the skirt.

This blog will focus on the skirt.

Ginny tried on the skirt and petticoat so we could determine the correct hemline.

Here are three views of the skirt with the desired hemline.  The skirt will be a little bit fuller when it is finished.  The shoes Ginny is wearing are the same heel height as the wedding shoes.  You will note the presence of the official wedding dress dog, Lulu, checking out the skirt hem.

 The next steps for the skirt involve a lot of hand sewing.  There are two skirt layers that will be hemmed.  The cotton/silk underskirt will have a 3.5 inch hem with horsehair braid sewn in.  The horsehair braid will give the hem body and prevent it from caving in.  The crepe de chine overskirt will have a rolled hem.

We also established the positioning of the lace border at the hem.  The two pictures below show what we decided looked best.  I will hand sew the lace onto the crepe de chine after the skirts are hemmed.

It is exciting to be working the dress again.

My next post will be on the bodice.

Please let us know what you think of the skirt length and lace placement.

Judy

Fascinator Materials Shopping

I'm traveling to Boston next week for a dress fitting and a practice hair appointment.  The hair dresser requested that I bring a facsimile of whatever it is I planned to put on my head, which forced me to figure out what I wanted to put on my head.  I'm thinking of going for something like this:

I actually like the hair in that picture quite a bit as well, and will probably request something similar.  Hopefully she can show me how to do it so I can replicate the hair for all of the celebrations.

I went shopping yesterday for the materials to use in making the fascinator.  After a totally unsuccessful trip to the LA Fashion District (it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack of tacky acrylic prints), I visited the tried and true International Silks and Woolens.  I picked up the following to use in making the fascinator:

 The teardrop-shaped item in the lower right corner is the base that I will build the fascinator on.  I'm planning to cover it with material from the dress.  Above that is a bag of white feathers, which helpfully came with instructions on how to create feathers in a number of different shapes (you can see that on the package).  There to the left of that are some ostrich feathers, which I can separate and add as accents.  On the left side of the picture are my two options for the veil.  The one on top is simpler, which I like, but its made of acrylic, and it doesn't have a very nice feel to it.  The bottom one is nicer to the touch, but it has the flowers woven in, which might clutter the lines a bit.  One idea I had was to embroider a hem on the simpler acrylic one, to make it look a little nicer.  Once I get it assembled, I'd like to get some beads to arrange in the center of the feathers.

If people have suggestions, let me know!