Final Touches

At some point in the construction process I added a hidden pocket in the right side seam of the skirt.  This same seam is where the back of the overskirt ended, so I just tucked the raw edge inside while I had the seam open, and stitched it shut again with everything neatly sandwiched between.  This was all covered by the side drape, which I simply slid my hand underneath from behind in order to access the pocket discreetly.  I used this pocket to hold my handkerchief, vows, and cell phone (on silent, of course) during the ceremony.

Right side with the drape hiding everything

Pull it aside - hidden pocket!  

I put it in slightly lower than I meant to, but it was too much work to move it.  

Just a few days before the wedding, my mom helped me finish the train.  We cut a semi-circular shaped piece of heavy Pellon interfacing and sandwiched it between the layers of the pleated back of the train and the twill tape waistband.  Then Mom stitched it down with both horizontal and vertical lines to hold it in place and give the back of the train the extra support it needed.

To attach the train, Elise sewed on a skirt hook at the front of the waistband, and when it was on I simply covered the twill tape with the front drape.

The back ends went under the back of the train and fastened together with skirt hooks again.

And finally the dress was done!  Now for the good part - wedding day pics!  :D

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.

The Train

So I know I kind of disappeared for about three months there, but I did continue to take pictures of my progress as I went!

2/3/15 - I put the train together pretty quickly and easily.  The pattern is fairly straightforward once you have the pieces in your hands.  I only took one photo of the progress.  This was just before I sewed through all the layers of pleats at the center back:

2/13/15 - I pleated up one side according to the instructions, but left the other side un-pleated just to see what the difference was in the drape.

Left side pleated, right side not

In the end I decided I liked the look with the pleating, so I followed the instructions to the letter.

2/16/15 - My friend Stefanie invited me over to her house for a sewing day, and I mostly worked on some little fiddly bits of the gown then.  But I also tried on the train and had a chance to walk around with it on for the first time.  Stefanie was nice enough to take some photos for me.

These were the first pictures of me that I got to see that looked like I was wearing a wedding gown!  :D  And there are, of course, many more to come.