Ok, time for a progress check against my original to do list, and a few to-do's to be added as well.
Tasks for today: Cover 30 buttons and adjust the bust on the mockup to fit better. Mockups Before anything else, complete as many mock-ups as necessary to make sure the pattern design and fit is perfect. Calculate yardages required using perfected mockup DONE (ok, mockups not finished but its close enough) After purchasing lace, adjust pattern if necessary to place points of scallops over seams. Shopping Foundation materials -White Coutil (Purchased, www.fabricland.co.uk) -Wide Plastic Boning (Purchased, fabricland) -Narrow Plastic Boning (Purchased, Fabricland) -Power Net (Purchased, fabricland) -Hook and Eye tape (Purchased, Fabricland) -Silk Dupion for lining (Purchased, Silk Baron) Interior Fabrics -Polyester lining (Purchased, Fabricland) -Dress net to interline Skirt (Purchased, fabricland) -Cotton Lawn to interline bodice (Purchased, fabricland) -Horsehair Braid for hem (Purchased, fabricland) Outer Fabrics -Power woven White silk Dupion or Duchesse Satin (Purchased, Silk Baron) -Tulle (Purchased, Fabricland) -Lace – must have a Scalloped edge, between 6” and 10” deep, the deeper the better - Must have (or be pieced to) long strips, 2-3" wide, which can be used for covering seams. - Must have motifs which can be used to decorate skirt panels - about 7" long, more than one design would be great - Must be able to peice together to completely cover bodice and sleeves Narrow Piping cord for Roleux loop (Purchased, Fabricland) Cover buttons (Purchased, Fabricland) Zip (Purchased, Fabricland) Inner structure Cut out coutil Cut out Power Net Cut out lining Assemble Add Boning Add Hooks and Eyes Petticoat Draft Pattern Cot out and assemble Add net Add detachable train support Lining Cut out lining Assemble lining Attach Lining Attach zip Attach inner structure to lining at side seams Dress Cut out Fabric Cut out interlining Cut out Net Hand tack interlining to fabric Hand tack lace to fabric to Godet level, front and back seams Stitch seams to Godet level, front and back seams Apply Godet to net Apply godet to fabric Stitch and Trim side seams in net Stitch side seams in fabric Make and apply rolleaux button loops Cover Buttons Stitch on buttons Make sleeves Attach sleeves Cut skirt facing strips Apply facing and horsehair to hem of skirt Trimming Cut out lace Pin on lace Allow to stretch and reposition Attach lace So this is the second mock up. The bodice still needs fitting adjustments, but I'm happy with the skirt :) In this version, I've stitched horsehair braid around the bottom to get an idea of how it might end up looking. Its looks great on the dummy, but only after I drape it how I want it! Conclusion: I need to add a petticoat to hold things in the shape I want! I'm thinking one like the bottom left on this page, with a hoop, net over the top to hide the lines and then a removable train supporting section. I want to dance at my reception so this seems like the most practical combination. And now i'm up to date with all the things I've done in the past and all the photos on my camera! So this is my first attempt at the underbodice - I was actually surprised with how effective it was, it really did flatten my tummy without feeling too uncomfortable.
The pattern ws made by drawing in underbust and low hip cutting lines on the pattern I came up with below, cutting the coutil exactly to this pattern and the powernet about half this size. The instructions I followed are here However, I do think its a little too tight - its difficult to do up, and even more difficult to swivel round after I've done it up at the front. I think the coutil section is fine, its the powernet that needs more space - I guess since powernet comes in different strengths this is something that probably just comes down to trial and error. It also needs boning added at the back to keep it from bunching up vertically, and I need to find white lingery elastic to finish the edges of the powernet. So this is my first mockup, using the patten drafted above. Its made from cheap curtain lining with a zip bunged in (since you can't pin things on your own back!) I've discovered a camera with timer and tripod are invaluable when trying to fit things on yourself - you can get shots from all angles without having to twist round to point the camera at the mirror. For this first bit i was most interested in making the bodice fit right - I (mostly) like my curves, and my boyfriend loves them, so what I'm aiming for is something that fits like a glove but doesn't smoosh. So what do we think of this first mock up? 1. Yuck my tummy sticks out! Plan for this is an underbodice from hip to underbust level, made of coutil at the front and power net at the back, fastening with hooks and eyes and lightly boned with rigeline. 2. Top back is too wide - plan is to move the shoulders out to deal with this, which will probably mean I need to trim the arm holes 3. On the subject of armholes, these need filling in at the front as this is going to be a dress with sleeves (counterintuitively larger than neccessary armholes make itdifficult to move your arms) 4. The zip needs to be a bit longer - I had to wiggle to get in! 5. Its too tight across the bust, so I'm going to add about 1cm to the curve on the side front pieces. 6. I want to bring the front side seams in, co the center front panel is narrower - just to keep nice lines when it comes to adding the godet and lace. The other thing I did was work out the proportions for the godet - I printed out a couple of shots of the dress and guesstimated things like what proportion of the total height was taken up by the godet, where they fell in relation to knees, waist etc. This let me draft rough patterns - basicly segments of circles with radius equal to the length of the gap in the side front seams for the front godets, and the same but with a big extension for the train and making it as wide as the fabric would allow for the back. Its tricky to get the effect cos the fabric just hangs but I think I'm on the right track. This bit was done months ago, but I want to show the whole process so into the blog it goes!
The first thing I did was to look through my pattern box to see what I could find with approximately the right shapes. I settled on Butterick 6583 for the top, which I made many moons ago and and which had a really nice fit, and has shoulders (although unfortunatly not sleeves). In fact, thats probably the first serious bit of dressmaking I did. The other pattern I used was Butterick 6533, which has the kind of shape to the skirt I nee to start with - straight at the front and slightly trained at the back. The fishtail shape will come from godets inserted into the side front and center back seams. I traced out the pieces from each pattern and overlayed them, matching the waistlines marked on the patterns. There are 3 parts - front, side front and back. I combined the two back pieces of 6583 into one, and raised the necklines at both front and back - since I don't know yet where the neckline will be I'm starting as high as possible - you can always take off excess fabric but never add on fabric you haven't got! Well, I visited Berwick street in London and was massively disappointed by it - after spending half an hour in the New York Fabric district last summer, London did not live up to my expectations with a small selection and astronomical prices! I saw a total of 2 white beaded laces, one for £250 per metre and one for £600 for 3 metres. So Naomi by Carrington it is - delivery times are 7 to 10 days so thats a brilliant news!
On the subject of silk, there was a good selection of colours available in the London fabric stores, but it was priced at £20/m for 60" wide (which is what I worked out my yardages for) compared to £15/m from silk baron (after adjusting for postage) so that going to be an internet purchase too. I guess at least its all decided now! So, some more on the search for lace. The picture to the left is of the inspiration dress - its lightly beaded and has a flower pattern, but the main thing is to have the right components - that is a scalloped border of a reasonable width (at least 6"), at least one type of free standing motif, and a symmetrical border of 2-3" in width. For the benefit of anyone else searching for lace (and maybe my future benefit!) here are sources I've looked at:
Ebay.com seller bridal girl 55 has some lovely lace, but the one I really like isn't beaded (and john likes sparkle so I want beaded if I can get it!) Ebay.com seller wowfabric4less123 has beaded lace in an interesting pattern in lots of colours - not quite my taste as the beading is a bit chunky, but if I was looking to make a evening gown rather than a wedding dress I might be back! Harringtons has lots and lots of yummy laces, but nothing that fitted with the piecing I want to do - no prices on the website! Bridallace.com is an american site, again with a lot of choice but nothing that works. Prices are not too bad but I find the layout of the site annoying. Bridalfarics.co.uk has nice stuff too - I really like the look of olivia, which is a laser cut lace - very different from everything else I've looked at. It went off the short list when I realised I'd never find a border to match because it was so different. This one is trade only. And finally, the pictures (massively colour altered so you can see the outlines over the glare) below are of a lace called 'Naomi' by Carrington (stockist Fabulous fabrics). I really like this and, since I can buy the border separately, works out to be reasonably priced. It has all the components I wanted, comes in white or ivory and in beaded and unbeaded varieties. The one thing I need to check is delivery times (once bitten, twice shy right?) So the fabric samples came, but none of them were what I wanted - the two silk dupions were cream rather than white, and the duchesse satin, while it was white, didn't have the wow feeling of the expensive stuff. To be honest, the polyester version from fabric land feels much more luxurious, and if I was having a winter wedding I'd probably be buying that right now!
But I'm not, so the latest sample I've ordered is for 'arctic white' (sounds good) machine woven silk dupion from silk baron (a US seller) for $16 a meter. Fingers crossed its good and that the shipping doesn't make it more expensive than the hanssons stuff! Anyway, the silk wasn't even meant to be the difficult bit of this fabric quest! The lace is the really tricky bit! About a year ago when I was first thinking about making my own dress, I found what I think is my dream lace! Its from www.bridallace.com and I ordered a sample and its yummy! Unfortunately, back then they had it in stock in both white and ivory. Since then, they've run out of the white, and white I must have! They very kindly offered to order more in white, but the scheduled delivery is 15th-20th May! Waaaaayy to late! So thats off the list. That said, they'd be my first recommendation because they did everything they could to help me, and both their range and their prices are fantastic. Here it is by the way, just in case anyone knows of another stockist! I like it cos it has just the right amount of beading and different siz Beckford Silk has silk dupion in 'natural white' for £11.53 a metre and duchess satin for £28.75. I've ordered samples of each, but suspect the white might not be white enough.
Cheap Fabrics has silk dupion for £11.79 Hansson Silk has silk dupion for £15.99, but has limited stock of pure white. They also have duchess satin for around £50, way out of budget! For future reference, the fabric shops on woodland lane in Slough has a small selection of colours (including ivory but not white) in silk dupion for £9 a meter. |
AuthorOk, this is my secret wedding dress blog. I guess its mostly for my benefit, as a place where I can keep things, although I may share with a select few before the big day! Hey you! ;)
According to the 'stats' people are looking at this site - I'd love to know who you are! Please feel free to comment :)
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