(hustle and) bustle + the hem of the wedding dress

I'm back from Malta! Naturally, the first thing that I had to get to was to finish off my wedding dress. 

The only things that are left to do on the dress is the hem and the bustle. Although I haven't been able to finish it all off completely, I think I have made decent progress so here's an update. 

I completed the hem! This took soooo much longer than I anticipated - I had to ensure that the dress is the right length (taking into account the wedding shoes), the hem is level, the train is the right shape, insert the horsehair braid (I used the 2.5cm width in the end) and then blind hem it whilst attaching the hem to the lining layer by hand. It pretty much took all day! 

Horsehair braid pinned into the hem including the train:

  Hemmed train (before pressing)        

Then I played around with the bustle a little. At the moment I'm leaning towards a French bustle - the reason being that all the ribbons will be on the inside of the dress, so I don't need to worry about hiding the hooks etc. Also I didn't want more volume around the waist/hip area of the dress given its dropped waist and princess seams. 

I had a quick attempt with the pins - what do you think? please do ignore the pink ribbon on the lace-up back - I'm saving the self fabric ribbon until the wedding. I am also planning on trying out the 2-tier French bustle this weekend - and I'm determined that the wedding dress will be completed this weekend! 

Update - Sunday 18 March

This weekend was packed of wedding stuff! my lovely bridesmaid came round to help me with the dress, made buttonholes and I had my hair trial. Was also going to have a trial photoshoot done too but that had to be postponed as the photographer had some family things to attend to. 

So here are some photos:

 Look at that train! 


 As you can see, I haven't quite done the lace-up back yet... I have taken the side seams in by 5mm or so on each side so the side seams would align with the side of my body better (if that makes any sense at all!). Before I start messing with the lace-up back, I am going to try it out on one of the mock-up corselettes from before so I have a better idea of the shape and size of the 'V' gap at the back. 


I'm also tempted to include a bit more details at the back of the dress. After all, this is where people will spend lots of time looking at during the ceremony! Currently I'm thinking about a pretty bow which could cover the bottom of the lace-up (and the short zipper underneath that) and help with the bustle... but I'll worry about these details later! 

My tasks for the next couple of weeks include (of course I like my lists... I'm a tax accountant after all ;) ):

• Start hand finishing seams of all layers - overcasting and catchstitching...
• Practise lace-up back on bodice mock-up
• Possibly hand basting some of the pleats to keep them in place;
• Hand basting all layers together (oh yes, we decided that I'm keeping the lining layer too... so that makes it 7 layers altogether! but they are surprisingly not that bulky, phew)
• Machine attach all layers but corselette lining whilst minding the pleats
• Attach the corselette lining layer to the above and flip - and hope for the very best!
• Finish the diagonal drape line
• Insert lace-up back
• Make up another list for the following weeks!

So quite a lot to do really! better crack on, especially as I would quite like to enter the PR April contest - RTW... more on that to follow I'm sure ;)

Lining sections attached! and the fit is good!

OK so I haven't ticked all of the things off my weekend to-do list but I've done most of it! the only bits left are the time-consuming hand sewing... but that means I've attached all the lining pieces together and tested the fit - phew the fit was good thankfully so no major disaster there. 


When I extended the train from the side seams though (previously it was from side back seams only) I allowed extra extra length in the centre back pieces so you can see there's currently a massive train for the lining... 

Look how long the train is...! I used a bit of scrap fabric on the carpet (which hasn't been cleaned for a little while so I didn't want the lining to pick up any dirt) and haven't quite bothered to spread the train out as the lining is super thin!


The seams are of course showing on the outside as this is the way the lining will lie once the outside layer is done. 
But I think it's looking good!


In the process, I have learned the following about silk habotai...


It's a pain to cut out as it's super thin and slippery!
It marks easily so I used bridal/lace pins which have now resulted in very achy fingers (I didn't even think that was possible!)
It's a pain to sew due to how slippery it is
It puckers easily as it's so thin (despite my thin needle and larger stitches)
It ravels easily as with most other silk fabrics and I'm looking forward to the overcasting.... 


So all in all, it wasn't the most well behaved fabric I've ever sewn with! but hey we got there in the end (other than the hand sewing).