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!

Bridesmaid dress - almost done!

After A LOT of handsewing, the bridesmaid dress is now almost finished! Here are a few in-progress and inside-out photos:

As the dress is made of silk dupion, I had to underline it with silk organza to prevent seam slippage. I used a (really useful!) technique for the skirt pieces - flatlining with a Hong Kong finish which meant that the organza wrapped around the dupion at the seams so I didn't need to overcast the vertical skirt seams. 


The picture above shows the neckline stay on both the bodice and lining with strips of silk organza, and the grading & understitching on the neckline (so that the fashion fabric seam allowance is stitched to the lining to keep it flat where worn) and also the clipped princess seams to make it lie flat. 

Now please bear with me, the red dressform really steals the thunder of the pink dress! It's a lovely bright pink colour! I will certainly take more photos when my beautiful bridesmaid tries it on.

So the things left to do on this dress are:

• Fittings;
• Adding a waist stay (the stay is ready but i just want to make sure it fits perfectly)
• When ready, insert the centre zipper;
• Finish the bottom of the bodice lining - I'm still deciding on what to do (nobody will see it but I still want it to be finished);
• Hem (still to decide whether horsehair braid is needed); and
• Embellishment for the waistline. The pattern (simplicity 4070 - I made a view E this time) calls for a medium width band (in the same colour as the dress) with a corsage. I was simply experimenting in the last picture. 

Any ideas would be very welcome! 

'Get my sewing confidence back' dress

OK so I had a bit of a tough time a couple of weeks ago when I spent a couple of days attempting new things and achieving nothing... so - I decided to make use of my corselette toile (which happened to fit fine but wasn't long enough for the actual wedding dress to attach dress net) and a bit of blue taffeta to make this dress in the hope that I will achieve something at the end of it. I made Simplicity 4070 view D with the following alterations:


I added a waist stay and separate closures for the lining layer (as it was the corselette toile); 
I omitted the parallel ribbons and replaced it with one thin pink grosgrain ribbon; 
I shortened the skirt slightly; and
I added nylon dress net to the bottom of the corselette to add some volume. 


Here are a few photos:

I am happy with the result and it did help me get my confidence back but I did learn a few lessons from this though:

1) be careful which side of the lining that I am attaching to the fashion fabric... as silly me! I managed to attach it incorrectly; and

2) machine blind-hemming is hard! (a zoomed in photo may give away how uneven the hem is!) I will definitely not attempt to do this on my wedding dress. doing it by hand will give it more control although of course being more time consuming.