Butterick 5457 toile - and your help/view please!

I'm making another bridesmaid's dress! This time it is for me. Yep, I'm going to be a bridesmaid for my mother-in-law's wedding in February. It was so sweet of her to ask me to be her bridesmaid, and I am so excited to be a part of her special day. What's more, I've decided to make my own dress, my bolero, and the bolero for her too, to keep us both warm on the day. 

I'm usually far too lazy for unwearable toiles, but when it comes to formal wear, I think it is often necessary. This is especially the case for this bridesmaid dress - despite all the questionable reviews that I have read about this pattern (and see my verdict below...), I decided to be brave and give it a go, as I particularly liked the horizontal and vertical pleats (what is it with me and pleats?), and the dipped neckline. But I was sure about one thing - I do not want to waste the beautiful crepe-backed satin (in 2 different purple tones) so a toile was absolutely necessary in this instance. 

I used an acetate satin in a slightly sickly looking baby pink that I bought a while ago for this Jason Wu peplum dress, but unfortunately I was just dreaming and never actually made it... I wanted to use a satin material to see how it will drape. 

The fit actually turned out to be spot on - I cut a 6, and it's quite a closely-fitted dress. The only real design change I made at this stage is that I omitted the gathered skirt - whilst I like gathers generally, I do not like them in formal wear as it adds too much bulk at the waistline (who wants that?!). Instead, I used the skirt pattern from one of my old favourites - Simplicity 4070 and it seems to fit fine. 

Now the pattern - oh how I can see what all the reviewers are saying! There are a few issues that I have with Butterick on this one:

1) The pattern pieces are kind of confusing. This is because there is no mention about underlining on the envelope, or in the cutting layouts. But when you start reading the instructions, it says "one lining layer will be used as underlining". I would not usually use the lining fabric as underlining too - I am thinking about using silk organza as the underlining - it's stable and thin. 

I used self lining for this toile (to use as much of this Marshmallow fabric as possible!), so I had to cut out a few pieces 6 times, which of course confused matter even more. 

To help future attempts at this pattern made by other seamstresses and myself, I have summarised the pattern pieces in this little table below. 

Layer	Bodice pattern pieces	Midriff pattern pieces
Fashion fabric	1 (pleats) fold, 2 (side front) x2, 5 (bodice back)x2	6 (front), 7 (back)x2
Underlining	3 (bodice front) fold, 4 (side front) x2, 5 (bodice back)x2	8 (front), 9 (back) x2
Lining	3 (bodice front) fold, 4 (side front) x2, 5 (bodice back)x2	8 (front), 9 (back) x2

2) I also didin't like the lining layer - is it really necessary to have so many pieces of lining? More importantly, with the split of bodice and midriff, there is an ugly bulky seam around the empire line, and because of this, the pattern only calls for short boning which extends to this line. More likely than not, boning is inserted to provide more support for the whole bodice, and provide a better shape around the midriff. In my opinion, bodice boning should at least extend to the waistline. 

So I have now redrafted the lining pieces into 3 different pieces only - the centre front (cut on fold), side front (cut x2) and bodice back. I am planning on using these for the real thing, and add boning to all the seams extending to the waistline, and also add boning in the middle (approx) of the bodice back pieces too. 

3) I had issue with the midriff pieces. I was pretty sure that I did cut the front piece (6) on bias, but when the instructions asked me to stretch the top to meet the top edge of the corresponding underlining piece (8), the fabric simply refused to stretch that far! It was really quite frustrating. I had the same problem with the midriff back pieces also. It may just be the fabric that I am using, but I shall make sure that I cut my crepe-backed satin extra wide just in case! 

Oh look at how the seams do NOT line up?!

Obviously I have not bothered to press all the pleats in place, but for my real version I am going to be really careful with the gathers in the midriff pieces - they will need to be more evenly distributed for a smoother transition between the pieces. Ahhhh, look at this:

 So, my lovely readers, before I make a start on my real dress, I wanted to get your opinion/help on a few things: 

1. What do you think of the skirt? Personally I feel that it is currently too plain, especially as compared to the fairly "busy" bodice. So I am considering a pleated skirt - what do you prefer? To give you a slightly better idea, my pleated bodice section is going to be in a very pale lilac, and the rest of the dress  (and the bolero) in deep purple. 

2. Do I really need to cut the midriff as 3 pieces - is there any chance that a one wide pleated belt may work (I will draft this in a slightly more scientific way than guessing/eyeballing it but I wanted to throw this one out there!)

3. Does anyone have any tips on how to insert an invisible zip neatly with a bulky back section? The midriff part is going to be quite bulky, with all the horizontal gathers/pleats. I haven't inserted a zip here (just pinned it at the back), but I would be interested in hearing any tips that you may have! 

4. Do you think underlining crepe-backed satin with silk organza would work? Any other alternatives that you would recommend? 

Please do feel free to let me know what you think - if you have a comment about any of the above, please say and I will really appreciate your help/opinion! 

Finish line......in sight!

It's been a while since my last blog post - but I'm back! After a business+holiday trip to the sunny Prague (fabric purchased there to show off when the projects are finished...), I found myself stuck in my sewing room for the bank holiday weekend here in the UK in the still very cold May (seriously... what is up with the weather here?! shouldn't it almost be summer?) 


After a day and a half's work on the wedding dress, I have a lot to report back. The short version is - it's almost done! I think the only outstanding things are the lace-up back (with a zip at the bottom), the hem and the bustle! I couldn't believe it! 


Here's a sneaky preview:

So all the layers have been attached, and the dress is now in one piece! The longer version of the story is that I  did the following in the last few weeks:

• All pleats tacked in;
• Diagonal drape hand finished and hemmed to the underlining;
• Waist stay attached to the corselette;
• Corselette lining back seams re-opened for the waist stay to come through;
• The relevant sections re-sewn and hand finished;
• A suitable bra dissected...
• Bra cups sewn to the corselette lining;
• All layers other than the corselette lining hand basted together as they are;
• Corselette lining layer and the rest, with RST, hand basted and machine stitched at the neckline; 
• I skipped the grading (I was too scared to cut into the seam allowance on the corselette lining - I decided that it was thin enough to not make a difference, plus the benefit that I won't worry about it fraying and breaking) but understitched all 7 layers of seam allowances to the corselette lining. 

I think that's about it! I was really worried that something would go terribly wrong... especially as I was clipping into all 7 seam allowances at the neckline! Thankfully all the practice on sweetheart necklines has really helped - and I am really happy with how smooth the neckline has turned out to be! 

Here are some work in progress and inside out photos:

So I can definitely see the finish line now... thankfully! I'm going to order some strong cord (the one that I liked from Liberty was not in stock when I popped into the store) for the lace-up loops and some (non-spiral) steel boning for the back closure before going ahead and finishing the dress! I'm so happy with how it's turned out so far and can't wait to finish it and wear it on my wedding day!

Wedding dress progress update

Another quick one from me - it's been a while since my last wedding dress progress update... so you must be wondering if I had given up on it already?! Not only because I spent 2.5 days on my shiny new green dress? and a couple of days feeling over the moon with it?


Of course not! I've kept going with it and now I'm pleased to report a couple of milestones!


Milestone 1. April 2012 marks the end of hand sewing of all the seams on ALL layers (yep all 7 of them!) of my wedding dress - so I have now hand overcast all the exposed seams, pressed seams flat where appropriate and catch stitched seam allowances to the fabric/underlining. I haven't got a photo to hand but will be sure to share the world of hand sewing with you when I get a chance!


Milestone 2. I'm ready for the lace-up back! I finally know how to do this!


After I made the covered cord for the loops (see Tutorial), I have altered the fit of the mock-up bodice/corselette and tried out the continuous looping as opposed to the criss-cross method adopted previously. Here's a picture of the new attempt:

I tried it on one side of the mock corselette, with 2 different types of cords. One is from Liberty, the first 7 slightly thinner loops on the left of the picture, and the other a viscose/nylon thicker cord. I preferred the Liberty one (apparently I have expensive taste :o) so will probably go for that for the wedding dress. 


Just in case that the loops still aren't strong enough, I also secured them to a strip of silk organza selvage to help maintain shape too. Now I can sleep tight!


So this is what I have ended up with:

The loops on the left are the new ones - I sewed them in between the 2 layers and simply did a dart for the right hand side. Although I feel able to proceed with the real thing now, without (a lot of) fear, there are still a couple of things that I will do differently for the wedding dress lace-up back:

1) The loops on both sides still stick out too much when pulled so I'm going to made the loops even less deep. 

2) I'm going to insert/move spiral steel boning next to the closure on both sides, in order to have a smoother finish and less wrinkles. 

Other than that, with my chosen fabric (the silk dupion), the strong but skinny cord from Liberty, and V shape that I'm finally happy with, I am ready to move forward! The end is (almost) in sight - get ready to celebrate!

Simplicity 3784 - a break from the wedding dress

I wanted a break from making my wedding dress so I decided to have a go at making Simplicity 3784 which I've wanted to make for a while! 

I bought some satin bedding for £5 about a year ago because I loved the pattern. It's made of 100% cotton but it's soooo smooth (but not as slippery to work with as I had feared). When I saw this pattern, I knew exactly it would be perfect for the fabric! 

I made a view D size 6 petite and thought it turned out well. I made a couple of minor modifications:

• I added a waist stay;
• Instead of the bow at the waistline I used a cream coloured ribbon instead; and
• I didn't line the skirt - only lined the bodice and I think it worked fine. 

I thought the pattern was well designed and really easy to follow. This project didn't take me long, even with the boning and inserting the horsehair braid into the hem (I decided to hand sew the hem this time based on my previous experience with machine sewing the braid). The effect of the braid is much more obvious on this dress - I'm really glad I used it. 

I used Rigiline boning this time as it's easier to buy and quite a lot cheaper than spiral steel. and I was happy with the structure it gave the bodice. 

The sizing was fine if not a little bit smaller than I expected. Usually a size 6 Simplicity gives me a little bit more ease - although perhaps it's a sign that I should exercise more now!

The best bit is, I only used half of the bedding so still have plenty left for a project another time!

Lining for the bridesmaid dress

I've been doing a few hours of hand sewing this weekend and felt like I've not got very far... overcasting takes sooo long! So as a break, I decided to shop for the lining of my bridesmaid dress (I've been looking for the right shade of pink for a while to match the silk dupion but simply couldn't track it down). Instead, I saw this fabric and thought it would make a funky twist to the dress! It's perfect as it matches the colour scheme... 

As you can see, the bodice will be the same as my wedding dress (but obviously in pink). I've sewn store-bought boning channels in the seams with spiral steel boning in. I will also add a waist stay later on when we do the fitting (closer to the wedding). 

Now the colours are not showing too well here given my red dress form (also I didn't worry about adjusting the size for now as the toile fit my bridesmaid well - only used it for photo purposes), but I think it's great and Katy - I hope you like it (but do let me know if you don't though!)

Corselette! finally...

I've finally made the actual corselette for the wedding dress! Voila!

I have left the waist stay on the outside for the time being and have not finished the closures at the back. I will be using hook and eye tape but given that the wedding is over 10 months later, I thought I'd do these things closer to the time in case I put on/lose weight! 


There are 11 bonings in the corselette and I think I will attach the heavy dress net to this layer. but I'm yet to decide whether I'll add another lining layer for the corselette for comfort and whether I should finish the top of the corselette (or just leave it as it won't be on show anyway). 


So almost time to cut into the fashion fabric! I'm not quite feeling brave enough yet!