Final Stages

I'm terribly delinquent on this update.  I have many pictures to post from the wedding day itself, but I want to get all of the dress-making posts done first!  This should be the penultimate one.  Progress!

As the wedding drew nearer, I stepped up my pace on the gown but stopped taking the time for in-progress photos.  All of the photos in this post were taken after the wedding.  

The hem was the next big step.  I pressed the edge of both layers - fashion fabric and lining - where Stefanie had pinned it, then removed the pins.  I was using a hemming technique that I learned at the Costume Design Center - we use it for hemming men's coats.  I love this technique because it hems the outer fabric and lining in one, with the seam allowance safely encased inside.  It's also very simple.  I plan to do a step-by-step tutorial with photos after this post.  

I actually messed up the first time I sewed the hem, because I turned the skirt inside out and then pinned it together.  When I turned it right side out again, I ended up with a Möbius strip mess.  :p  So I unpicked the whole thing, matched up all the seams and pinned them together before turning it inside out again through the small opening I had left at the side when I sewed the neckline edges together.  I re-sewed the whole thing, turned it back right side out and this time it was perfect.  :)  I turned in the edges of the side opening and stitched them together by hand.  Then came the complicated task of figuring out the closures on this side.  

The following photos show how I get into the dress (with instructions in parentheses), and will help explain how I added all of the fastenings:  

(First I button up the right side)

For these photos, I put it on over my corset (which the lovely Stefanie bound for me!) and yoga pants, for modesty.

(Then wrap the front bodice over to the left side)  

Ok kids, this is where it gets complicated.

I had left the box pleat in the overskirt over the left side seam unstitched so that I would be able to get in and out of the dress.  I put the dress on, pinned the pleat in place, and marked where the folded edges would meet. I added snaps to hold the pleats closed, but ended up replacing one of them later with a skirt hook for a tighter fit.  Though I actually never removed that snap.  :p 

(First snap the back half of the box pleat closed)

(There's a hidden snap here pulling the inside of the front half of the pleat to the center.)

(Finally hook the front half of the pleat over to the bar, hidden beneath the edge of the bodice when closed.)

I also used skirt hooks to fasten the left side of the wrap front to the left side seam of the bodice.

This was a little tricky, as I had to also account for the folded-under lower edge of the back bodice piece, so it became somewhat like a puzzle that had to be assembled in the correct order.

I needed this little piece at the bottom to attach to both the skirt and the front bodice, then bring the wrap front section over and attach on top of it.  I ended up using two smaller hooks and two thread loops - one on the skirt and one on the bodice - to accomplish this.  Then a skirt hook on the wrap section covered it.

(Hook small hooks to thread loops)

(Hook wrap front to side seam)

In order to disguise the skirt hooks and to match up with the right side of the bodice, I added four more covered buttons just on the other side of the left side seam.  The very last step on the dress was actually done by my sister (also my Matron of Honor) Elise, who made tiny elastic loops and attached them to the edge of the wrap front hidden beneath the skirt hooks they were there to help cover.

(Pull elastic loops over buttons.)  

With the elastic loops over the buttons, the side closure looks very smooth and elegant - at least I think so.  :p

I'm going slightly out of chronological order now, because I only have photos of the completed gown so I had to explain the elastic loops even though they came after the skirt ruffle.

I had debated adding this detail and leaving it plain at the front of the skirt under the overskirt, but I think the ruffle really adds a little something that was missing.  I hemmed my triangular piece by hand before attaching it, which made the sewing a lot easier.  Then I didn't have to guess how the finished hems would line up!  I left the top edge as it was, since it was the selvage and I didn't want to bother with hemming it and just creating bulk at the top edge of the ruffle.  I measured the length of the top of the ruffle and the space I wanted it to fill, did a little math, and came up with the spaced box pleats (I have a thing for box pleats - can you tell?) that brought it to the right length to fill the space.  Then I pinned it in place, matching up the two hems at every pleat juncture, and stitched it on by hand.

And with that, the dress was done!  Finally!  :D

All that remained was figuring out the train, and I waited until my parents arrived from Iowa on the Monday before the wedding so that my mom could help me with it.  She was able to make observations of the train with me wearing it, which I couldn't do very well on my own.  We ended up using Stefanie's suggestion about supporting the waistband in the back with some nice thick Pellon interfacing, which worked beautifully.  I cut a crescent-shaped piece that we sandwiched in between the waistband and the pleated layers of silk, and my mom pinned it in place when I tried it on.  We decided to sew through all the layers on the machine with vertical rows of stitching to reinforce the pleats and keep them firmly secured to the interfacing and waistband.  It worked beautifully, and Elise also attached the skirt hook to the waistband for me while I worked on my veil - another story for another post!  

The Corset

Since my gown will have an off-the-shoulder neckline, I knew I would need appropriate undergarments.  However, I hate strapless bras.  Also, I know from working in bridal and doing countless alterations on predominantly strapless wedding gowns that the fit of the gown needs to allow for the bulk of the weight to rest on the hip shelf.  To me, the obvious solution is a corset.  This will give me the lift and support that I want in the bust, while giving me a foundation through the waist and hips for the gown to rest on.  The point of the corset is comfort.  I know from experience that it is much more comfortable to wear 18th century clothing, for example, with (well-fitting) stays than without.  Since the silhouette of my gown is very much Victorian-inspired, I naturally need a Victorian corset.  

I started with Simplicity 9769, and I found this great review/tutorial on making a mockup corset and finding the correct fit.  It was extremely helpful, especially the bit about using a separating zipper to simulate a front busk.  (She eliminated the front busk in her finished corset, but I'm keeping it in mine.)  Here is my test corset with bones inserted and alterations made to my shape:  

I did my alterations a little differently - instead of using a mix of different sizes, I simply took in the excess material at the seam allowances to eliminate the gapping at the bust.

I did the actual fitting of the corset on myself, not on the dress form.  It fits me better than it fits Anna.  Her waist is slightly smaller than mine but her hips and bust are bigger, which is why there's weird wrinkling in the middle.

After I finalized the fit, I traced the original pattern pieces onto heavy-duty brown paper and marked the adjustments to the seam allowances from the test corset.  Then it was time to cut out my fashion fabric!

I've had this lovely lavender brocade in my stash for years, just waiting for the right project!  As you can probably tell, this fabric used to be part of a different garment.  I can't even really describe what it was, but it had royal purple ribbon trim sewn ALL over it!  I bought it (whatever it was) at a costume sale in college, simply because I thought the fabric was pretty.  Long ago, I took the garment apart and painstakingly removed all of the ribbon trim.  I wish I had pictures of what it looked like before.  :p

Anyway, before I cut out my corset, I serged all the raw edges of the fabric and washed and ironed them.  I also cut out two layers of coutil (also previously washed and ironed) for each fashion fabric piece.  I flat-lined the fashion fabric with one layer of coutil and serged the pieces together at the long edges.  The second layer of coutil became the lining.  I used the "sandwiching" method of construction, which the tutorial describes better than I could.  And I stitched the boning channels through all layers of the seam allowances.  

The bones, busk, grommets, and lacing ties all came from the kit for this pattern I bought at corsetmaking.com, which it seems they no longer carry.  Still a great site for corset supplies, though.

I only ended up using about half of the bones, and none of the bone casing.  The kit did not include grommet-setting supplies, so I had to find those myself.  Finally tracked them down at Michael's.

I still need to bind the top and bottom edges, and I want to add a waist tape as well.  But other than that, the fit is good and I'm happy.  With the corset, I got Anna the dress form adjusted to my measurements.

This has been very helpful for fitting purposes!