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!

While Mom waits for me to visit next week to move forward on the dress, I thought I would add an update on some of the accessories.  contrary to popular belief, I am not making Mom do all of the work on my outfit for the celebrations--just most of it.

While she has been skipping along, mastering advanced couture techniques with great ease, I have been struggling epically with rudimentary knitting as I try to make a shawl to accompany the dress.  The plan was to make this shawl, but the pattern I have includes beads.  We got some beautiful, slightly off white, baby alpaca yarn, and clear beads with silver on the inside. 

It started off looking pretty scraggly, in part because the yarn is nearly lace weight, while the pattern calls for sock weight yarn.  As I've moved along, it's started to look a bit better.  It's a bit hard to show the full thing, since it is still on needles, but it looks roughly like this:

If you look closely, you can see there is a knobby pattern that includes bead near the bottom, followed by a couple rows of plain garter stich.  I'll be doing the knobby pattern three times, separated by the garter stich.

If it continues to improve as I go, I think I'll be alright, but feel free to suggest other cover ups (homemade or otherwise) in the comments section!



Houston

As I mentioned in my last post, we went to Houston and Austin this past week. In addition to hearing some great live music, hiking in the Hill Country, and eating some great food, we visited some wedding related stores. Kathryn Ledet, Becky and I went to Hi-Fashion Fabric and BHLDN Bridal Store. The primary purpose to visit Hi-Fashion Fabrics was to buy horsehair braid for the skirt and petticoat hems. I successfully accomplished that mission. And amazingly, I did not buy any material. It was hard-they had some beautiful Italian and Swiss cotton that would make gorgeous shirts, blouses and shirt dresses. The BHLDN Bridal shop was well worth a visit. Becky looked at some dresses as sister of the bride. Surprisingly, they do not have that as a specific dress category. We did find some cute dresses and little cashmere sweaters to keep the chill of the shoulders. The collection of wedding dresses was quite nice. Becky characterized it as the Anthropologie of bridal gown stores. I looked at the dress construction and picked up some ideas for our project. I will definitely add another layer of tulle to the petticoat. I found out how they used the horsehair braid in the skirt hems and got some more ideas on how to sew the chiffon onto the bodice. We saw the pair of shoes Ginny is interested in. They looked very nice and should be contenders in the wedding shoe derby.

The Corset

I finished the corset tonight.  It is made from cotton and has four ribs made from boning.  I finished the top edge with a 2 inch wide bias strip of the cotton/silk blend.  The opening has a row of hooks and eyes as the closure.  I used a pattern that Ginny has used before.  However, I need too fit it on her to make sure it fits right.  I am concerned that it is too big.  The bust and waist seem about 3 inches too big.  If it is too big, I will just start over.

Here are the pictures.

Inside of corset showing the boning.  The seam has been hand stitched to the body to the seam flat and prevent fraying.

The hook side of the opening.  I used a tape of hooks and eyes.

The opening showing the hooks and eyes.

The bias binding along the top edge.
 

The front of the corset.

Did you know Alexander McQueen's first job after he graduated from St. Martins was with a corset maker in London?  I think designing and constructing corsets give you a great perspective on how to make a dress look great through the right structure underneath the fashion fabric.  

I will be on vacation next week visiting Becky in Houston.  My next post will be in two weeks when I start on the bodice.

The petticoat

My focus has now shifted to the underpinnings of the dress--the petticoat and the corset.  I started with the petticoat. No real reason it came first, it is just where I decided to start.

One of the fun things about sewing is shaping two dimensional fabric into a three dimensional garment. The petticoat is interesting in this respect because it fabricated from tulle, a lightweight fabric with lots of body, to create of volume.  The petticoat itself also adds dimension to the skirt, making it look a lot less like an Amish dress. 

Here are the two fabric used to make the petticoat.  The lining is white silk twill.  The tulle is attached to the lining and provides the volume.  Here are the fabrics in the two dimensional state.  The tulle is on the top.

I used the petticoat pattern from Big Blue (Butterick 4792) as a guide.  I made this petticoat only half as voluminous a Big Blue.  The wedding dress' hem is only 10 feet in circumference versus Big Blue's hem at 20 feet.  The lining is semi-circular skirt.  The tulle is attached 8 1/2 inches below the waist so it continues the curve of the hips, but does not add to the circumference of the hips.  I started with 24 feet of tulle and gathered using a 5 to 1 ratio.  Hence the clouds of tulle I referenced in the last post.  The tulle is 17 inches long.  

Here is the petticoat on the dress form.

I will finish the waist with a bias strip and add a hook and eye to close the side opening.  The petticoat will be a separate piece from the dress.

The lining will be cut to the correct length during the dress fitting in April.  I will sew horsehair braid to the hem of the lining.  This will help provide the volume for the skirt.  If need be, I can add another layer of tulle at the bottom of the petticoat.  That will be determined when the skirt is hemmed to its finished length with horsehair braid in its hem.

Here is a picture of the dress over the petticoat.  Right now the skirt is about 7 to 8 inches too long and the extra fabric is weighting the petticoat down.  However, it is apparent the petticoat makes a difference when compared to the picture without the petticoat.

With petticoat

Without petticoat

Hi All,

No new news on the dress.  It is exciting to see more activity on the blog.

I understand that some of you have had problems publishing comments.  So, I guess as the owner of this blog, I have some responsibility to find out what the issue may be and resolve it.  Being an neophyte blogger, it may take some time to figure this out.  Please hang in there.

If you have a comment and cannot post it, please send it to me or Ginny via e-mail and we can post it for you.

My next post will be this weekend assuming I emerge unscathed from the clouds of tulle as I make the petticoat.

Judy

Guest Blogger: the First Fitting (Part 2)

The Bodice

The last post covered the skirt, and asked some very profound questions about the shoes.  Now it's time to move on to the bodice.

The bodice I have more comments on, which isn't surprising given that we didn't have a pattern to work from for it.  I am suggesting two changes to the bodice:

1) Make the straps of the under-layer thinner so the sleeves can be directly over the shoulder (a little bit like this).  You'll see the picture below I marked with blue pencil where I want the straps to end (the mark is at the very top of the shoulder).  If you look closely, I also pinned in some extra material on the princess seam above the bust.

2)  A deeper v in the back (a la Aunt Sue's comment earlier).  I've suggested dropping the v-neck about 2 inches to where the seams meet in the back.  I've marked it with a small blue dot. (second picture).  Mom and I can play around with the neckline in April.

Since we're talking about the top half of the dress, let's discuss jewelry.  You'll notice in the first picture I am wearing a necklace of multiple strings of small, unpolished pearls.  This is the necklace I was thinking of wearing with the dress.  Aunt Sue is also indulging my inner magpie by sending some beautiful vintage broaches to wear at the waist:

I'm a bit torn on this one.  I like the idea of adding color (left), but the pearl one is pretty spectacular.  Would it be too much to put one on the waist and another on the chapeau?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.  For those who had trouble commenting, the only suggestion I can make is that you try in a different browser.

Guest Blogger: The First Fitting (Part 1)

Hello blog readers, it's the blushing bride here.  I'll be guest blogging this week as I am in possession of the dress for the time being.  Mom will be chiming in later about the corset and the petticoats, which she can work on without the dress.

First off, that skirt material is beautiful.  Y'all have to feel it when you come to the celebrations.  And just imagine, it doesn't even have the lace appliqued to it yet.

I just completed my first fitting.  Because we are designing the dress ourselves, this fitting was a bit different than a traditional wedding dress fitting, which focuses only on whether the dress matches the bride's figure.  Our first fitting also involved me commenting on the design.  Because--as anyone who has ever met me knows--I have a lot of opinions, I am going to break this up into two posts, one on the skirt, and another on the bodice.

Overall, I think we're on the right track.  The measurements Mom took at Christmas were pretty spot on, and it fit very well.  Here's me in the dress:

You'll notice the hem looks a bit funny.  I pinned up the front of the dress 4.5", which is I think about where I'm going to want the hem.  I decided not to do a full hemming now because I want to wait until the petticoats are underneath before I make the final call.  The petticoats will "poof" the skirt out a bit and make it look more retro.  It will also make the shape a bit more dramatic.  What do you guys think?  Am I on the right track with the hem length?  Should we have some tulle hanging out the bottom like this dress?  Or, should we keep the tulle tucked away and let the lace applique that will be added later do the talking?

Also, Mom, where are my pockets?  A girl needs pockets!

Finally, since I have the floor and we are talking about the bottom half, I might as well ask our loyal readers about the shoes.  The ones I am wearing in the picture are about the height I hope to wear with the dress (~2 3/4").  One complication is that some of the celebrations will literally be in people's backyards, complete with sod.  That will make heels a bit more challenging.  Here are some of the ideas that have been thrown out so far (many from Aunt Sue, who y'all might have noticed has impeccable taste):

1.  The stunners

2.  The sod friendly retro shoes

3.  The less sod friendly retro shoes

You'll notice I like the idea of adding some color in the mix.  Thoughts?  Suggestions?

Later this week: the bodice (an jewelry, and anything else I feel like talking about; Mom might regret giving me the administrator password).