Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Finishing

3/11/15 - Just one month to go before my wedding, I was in the finishing stages of my gown.  I had stitched the lining pieces back together, and I added boning to the bodice seams.  I used spiral steel bones left over from making my corset.  

Before I could attach the lining to the dress itself, I needed to stitch the bottom edge of the back drape to the back bodice.  The top edge was basted to the foundation along the top neckline.  I pinned the bottom edge where I wanted it, then removed the basting and flipped the top down out of the way.  I then stitched the bottom edge to the foundation on the machine, and pulled the top edge back up and basted it to the neck edge again.  Next I attached the lining to the dress along the full neck edge, just below the basting line.  (I re-wrote this paragraph several times, so I really hope it makes sense!)  

I understitched the seam allowance to the lining, clipped curves, and turned the dress and lining right side out.  As soon as I did I realized I had problems.  The bottom edge of the back drape was pulling funny and creating unslightly wrinkles.  





So I was forced to unpick the stitching on the bottom edge and re-pin it where it naturally wanted to fall.  I then had to re-stitch it by hand, which was somewhat of a challenge.




But the lines were much smoother now!  So it was worth all the aggravation, I guess.  :p

I also turned up the lower edge of the bodice draping and pinned it down to the skirt (after serging this edge to make it a little neater) and handstitched it, as well.




3/14/15 - As I was working on some of this hand-sewing, I was listening to the rain outside and hoping that it would not rain on my wedding day.  We were not having an outdoor wedding, but I did have my heart set on taking pictures outside at Colonial Williamsburg.  So to ease my mind, I took a break from sewing and took a swatch of leftover silk outside and held it out in the rain for a few seconds, so I could observe the effect of rain water on my dress fabric.


I let the rainwater dry, and came back to it a few minutes later.


The fabric did not seem to me to be damaged from the rain.  There was no running of the dye, which was the thing I was most worried about.  There was some wrinkling, but much of that was there before the rain.  My fears allayed, I went back to my sewing.

3/25/15 - It was time to mark the hem!  I had just assembled all of my undergarments (more on that later) and my friend Stefanie agreed to help me pin it.  We went to her house after work, and I got all dressed in my corset, petticoat, shoes, and gown.  As a former bridal consultant/seamstress, I know very well how important all of these pieces are to the overall fit and length.  Stefanie pinned the hem for me, and I practiced walking with it pinned to test the length.  I walked on both the hardwood floor and the large floor rug, to make sure that it wouldn't be too long on a carpeted surface.  I also practiced walking up and down the stairs, just in case I should have a need to use stairs on my wedding day.

We also took some pictures of me in the dress, because I couldn't take pictures of myself in the dress at home.



Sometime between March 11 and March 25 I made and attached covered buttons to the right side of the gown, replacing the bright red plastic buttons I had used as placeholders.  I bought my button molds from Burnley & Trowbridge.  I believe the ones I got were the 3/8" size.


I also tried on the train, which I had done a bit of work on since February 16.  Basically I had added a 1" wide twill tape waistband that would fasten in the front, and I had made the decision to keep the front drape as a separate piece to be placed over the waistband to hide it.



I was still having problems with the train gapping in the back, however.  Stefanie suggested using some really heavy interfacing to add some support to the waistband in the back.  I did end up implementing her suggestion, but it got put on the back burner until after the dress itself was finished.

No comments:

Post a Comment