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