Friday, June 12, 2009

Wedding Dress, part two

WARNING - This post is VERY Picture-heavy! If you have a slow connection, it might take forever to load...

Day two on the sewing front... yesterday evening I stopped after basting the pieces together. I found out this morning that the bias cut had caused one of the godets to hang lower than the other. There was nothing wrong with the cut, I just needed to take the basting out, let both pieces hang naturally and baste them together again. They fit perfectly after that:

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Now it was finally time to sew!

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See the pretty silk thread winding on it's bobbin? I like to use silk thread with silk, although some people say to use cotton so the seams are sturdy. I like the lightness of the silk thread, especially with a bias gown.

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Sometimes I just don't have the right tool for the job and have to improvise. Here I am using the spool-holder of a weaving shuttle to turn the tiny thin straps right side out:

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Do you like mysteries? What's This????

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Surprise! It's a zipper! An invisible zipper!

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The godets are sewn in - what a lot of skirt!

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Back downstairs now, to place and baste the bodice to the skirt and back upstairs to sew it:

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Then...the really scary part!

Here I am with the center cut of the bodice. This is what will form that lovely wide shoulder-bone-to-shoulder-bone V neckline... I placed my handmade tissue pattern, with the cut marked, back over the bodice and basted the cut line with ling running stitches. Then, I gently pulled the tissue away, leaving the stitches in place on the silk...

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(cue the theme music from JAWS)... here come the scissors! Oh noes!

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The cut is made - 6.5 inched from the hollow of the throat. There's no turning back now!

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The next step was to place the straps against the bodice to drape it and figure out how it would actually come together. It's starting to look more like a real gown now...

All of the hems must be hand rolled - the neckline, the arm and back edges, and the wide, wide, wide, wide hem. I couldn't get back far enough to take a picture of the entire hem at once, because with the front, the two back sides, the two godets, and the back train it is about six yards around...

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I think I will hem this on the plane! (it's a long flight)

Tomorrow: finishing the bodice and neckline, designing and setting the train godet, and starting the drapey waist sash...

2 comments:

Lindsay said...

That's such a pretty color! I've always had a thing for green silk.

Unraveling Sophia said...

Thank you!