Progress! (Part 2)

1/11/15 - After the holidays, I had more time to sew again.  I finalized the draping of the bodice after much fiddling and tweaking.  (Thanks to Stefanie for your help!)  I then hand-basted all the tucks and folds down just inside the seams of the foundation.

Then I took those seams apart and smoothed the excess silk over the seam allowances, and stitched them back up.  Once this was done, it was time to start putting the skirt together!  I had cut it in three pieces - the gathered side drape, the curved overskirt, and the diagonal ruffle.  I started with the side drape.

You will remember from Part 1 that I was using the full width of the fabric, which I measured at 57".  I gathered it down to just under 12".  Even with two rows of gathering stitches, it did not go willingly!  I wanted a smooth, straight drape, but the fabric has too much stiffness for that.  The gathers gave it a certain puffiness at the top, which was decidedly not what I was going for.  To rectify this, I rolled the panel tightly into a tube, securing it with a hairtie right at the gathers.  I then slipped the tube into the leg of a pair of pantyhose and threw it in the dryer for 20 minutes.

I don't have any "before" pictures, sorry.  But the treatment did have the desired effect.  I now had soft vertical creases all along the panel and the puffiness was eliminated.

To reinforce the creases, I slowly rolled the hairtie down the entire length.

I attached the panel under the edge of the bodice.

Look, I'm totally wearing my wedding dress! :D

The red buttons are just temporary placeholders.

It looks green in these pictures, but that's either the lighting or my mirror.  Most of the time it looks blue.

It's very difficult to get good pictures of myself in the dress when my regular photographer is not allowed to see it.  :p

1/19/15 - I used some leftover blue muslin to line the curved overskirt.  I sewed the silk and the lining together at the hem, then stitched the seam allowance to the lining.  This gave me a nice finished edge, though once I started pinning it to the foundation I had to adjust the length in some places.  The two layers did not drape evenly on the bias.

I'm still unsure if I'm going to add the diagonal ruffle or not.  If I do, it will fill in the space below the curved edge of the overskirt.  I'm going to play with it and see if I like how it looks, but I might just leave it off since the foundation is covered with silk anyway.

The foundation hem is currently pinned up out of the way so I don't step on it.

And that brings us up to date!  I need to add the lining, make buttons, and hem everything, then make the train.  But progress is being made!  :D