Second Mockup

I have a dress-shaped thing!  :D  It's in my sewing room.  It's pretty.  :)

Wanna see?

Of course you do!  I'm going to be mean and make you read the whole post first, ha!

I mean.... you get to watch the design grow and evolve just as I did, with the pictures of the final design saved until last as a reward!  :)

Anyway, I finally started my for-real-and-for-true wedding gown mockup on Saturday, when I began draping the bodice.  The fabric I am using for this mockup is actually the fabric I was originally going to use for the gown itself.  After I got it home I began to worry that I didn't have enough (I think I had eight yards) and I wasn't completely in love with the color.  (More on this later.)  So I bought close to 12 yards of ivory silk, which I am going to dye.  (Terrified.)

But!  The original satin is working beautifully for my mockup purposes, as it has a drape and sheen very similar to the silk satin I will be using.  I started out by folding one end over on the bias, and pinning it onto Anna the dress form over my lining and corset.

I wrapped the folded edge around the neckline, as I want both sides of the front and the swag (for lack of a better word) part that drapes around the shoulders to be all in one piece.

From this point forward we will be ignoring the shockingly messy condition of my sewing room.  kthxbai

 I started giving it shape under the arms:

 And I found that the back swag was puckering funny from where I had pinned it to match the neckline of the lining:

So I released the tension to let it lay smoothly:

Now the fun part!  I started adding tucks and pleats along the sides to give that lovely diagonal ruched look:

Asymmetrical ruching is a big selling point, I remember from working in bridal.  It helps make the waist look smaller.

For mockup purposes, I was just pinning all these pleats right onto the dress form.

After consulting my first reference image, I realized I didn't like the way all the diagonal pleats were going in the same direction.  (I'm also doing my dress in a mirror image of the inspirational gown, so that messed me up a bit.)  I reconfigured the tucks a bit to get the ones at the bottom to angle upwards from the right hip to the left waist.  I also manipulated the top of the wrapped part to create a sort of band that will carry around the back into the swag, if that makes sense.

When I had everything where I liked it, I marked the cutting line with my fabric marker, giving myself a generous seam allowance at the sides.

I also traced the top edge of the lining in the back, to get the swag to follow the line that I want.  It's hard to see the lines on this photo, but I also marked the bottom edge of the swag.

Then I unpinned everything and cut out the piece along the lines I had drawn.  I actually cut about 1/2" outside the lines, to be extra conservative.

Here's how extra conservative I was:

The pins mark the seam of the lining, and the inside marker line is approximately 5/8" outside of the stitching line.  

Here's how the swag lays in the back:

Once I could see where all the stitching lines would end up, I trimmed away the excess and got a much better feel for the finished look:

I was very happy that I was able to take it off and put it back on in roughly the same composition again.  This gives me confidence that I will be able to use the mockup pieces as patterns when I cut out my actual fabric, and successfully re-create the look that I've come up with on the dress form.

On Sunday I draped the back bodice and the skirt.  I used the same draping technique for the back as I had used on the front:

Then I cut off a length of fabric from the yardage that was long enough to reach from my hip to the floor, and pinned it onto the right side with small tucks to simulate gathers.  This design idea was stolen directly from my inspiration source, as well.

After that, I wasn't quite sure where I wanted to go with the rest of the skirt.  I started experimenting, just draping and tucking and pinning, with interesting results:

I ended up not liking it, and went out to the living room where Brian the Fiancé was watching tv.  I talked about my troubles (without going into detail) and he listened and gave me some helpful advice.  He said I shouldn't try to "wow" everyone with an amazing design, but just keep it simple and keep it "me."  Heartened by this, I went back to the mockup and re-draped the skirt with simple pleats:

I might add a pleated ruffle beneath the diagonal edge, or I may extend it to reach the floor.  I haven't decided yet.

The gathered panel at the right hip will get tucked under the bottom edge of the bodice on the finished gown.

I'm happy to say I like this simple skirt much better!  After all, there will be a detachable train to add extra drama for the ceremony and pictures.  But this is what the gown will look like for the reception - pretty, but still easy to dance in!

Now for the train.  This was last night's project.  I had purchased several Truly Victorian patterns in September, including the beautiful 1880s Butterfly Detachable Train pattern, and I can now wholeheartedly recommend it!  It goes together quite easily (though the directions don't really make sense until you're actually doing it) and definitely has the "wow" factor I was hoping for:

However, since this pattern was made to be worn under a Victorian bodice, some adjustments need to be made.  It would look a little funny if I just tacked the train on in the back with no transition, I think.  So I grabbed another Truly Victorian pattern I recently acquired, the 1883 August Overskirt.  I only cut out the front and side pieces, since the back would be redundant, sewed them up and attached one side of the overskirt to the train, pinning the other side in place for now.

I love how it looks from the side!  Not so much from the front.  I'm going to play with making it a bit shorter and see if I like it better.  I may also add some diagonal ruching to the top front to make it blend better into the gown bodice.

So that's my design!  Other than a bit of tweaking, I now know what my wedding gown will look like!  :D  I'm very excited.  Now onto the extremely scary bit - dyeing my fabric!  Eek!