Wedding in the Glade

This glade in the Hoyt Arboretum was a beautiful, enchanted place. It was sheltered by three large, tall trees in a triangle and a fourth tree - an old oak with spreading branches that had holly circling up its massive trunk. The ground was covered with wild flowers, and rose bushes in bloom circled around... The air was full of birds singing...

Wedding Dress part three - Finished!

It was with a sense of despair and the feeling that I would never complete this that I got up early and faced the front room as soon as it was light enough to see without the lamps. I had to make a decision about the back train and hadn't been able to get in touch with Jule yesterday to ask what she wanted.

When I went to bed last night, two decisions were rattling around like pinballs inside my brain: a big frothy train? A wide wrapping sash?

When I looked down at the dress spread out on the table, and laid out the folds of fabric that would cascade down beneath where the back sipper ends....it all came clear. I heard Michael Kors' voice on Project Runway saying "and what is that!? She looks like she's pooping fabric!" (he really did say this to a contestant once. Heidi said it first, but he said it most emphatically.).

I chose something sleeker, and much more flattering to the butt. Here is it pinned but not sewn or pressed:



The next task was to finish the straps and here I made the very first mistake that required unpicking the thread and re-doing.



You know how when you're knitting in the round and you do the first cast on and then "join, being careful not to twist"? and you check - and double check - to make sure that your join is not twisted? The same sort of thing happens when you are attaching shoulder straps. You have the front sewn in and you're slipping the edge of the back strap between the back edge and the narrow facing. You say to yourself "seam towards the shoulder. seam towards the shoulder." You double check and then sew it in and go over it three times - because there is a lot of stress on this point, since the dress hangs from the shoulders. And then you hold the dress up by the straps and you check that the strap seams are facing towards the shoulders and.........there it is. The dreaded twist. You can't exactly rip stitches out of silk. So you pick up an insanely thin silk needle and begin to un-pick the stitches one by one. Luckily on the re-do it looks fine. Love and care cover a multitude of careless sins (or inadvertent mistakes).

Hemming came next - all hand-rolled hems. I did get out my 1900s sewing machine that has a narrow rolled hem attachment, but when I experimented on a scrap of silk, the tight narrow hem was so stiff, like a cord, that it made what would be the hem edge stand out in a circle like a crinoline! So it was hand sewing for all the hems - the back edges, catching in the top of the zipper, the neckline edge, making a wide curve, and the yards and yards of skirt hem:



It took 6.5 hours solid of hemming just for the skirt alone. While I hemmed, I watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the old version), Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the Johnny Depp version), Robin Hood (the Uma Thurman version), and a few assorted British sit-coms. Good stuff.

As for the sash, I'm going to wait. I'll make the waist part tomorrow, but bring all the rest of the silk with me, in case it's needed:



Now I am really and truly finished. All that remains is the fitting and the subsequent shaping and hemming of the arm-curves. That part has to fit exactly, or else make use of lots of double-sided tape!

FRONT:



BACK (showing hem):



Tomorrow I pack it all up and then board a plane for next week-end's wedding. I'm so excited! Jule, I hope you like this and I'll see you soon!

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:



Now it was finally time to sew!



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.



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:



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



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



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



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



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...





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



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



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...





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...

Wedding Dress, part one

It began with an idea... a vision of a 1930's silk, bias cut gown....



It took 2 hours on this dark, rainy Thursday morning to design and draft the bodice pattern...



and then to place and cut it on the bias...



But the gown front was even more complicated and required a newly drawn pattern of it's own. Also on the bias, it needed extra wide seams and an extra inch of ease on either side to make up for the bias downward drape...it has a slightly raised curved top edge, a shaped waist and a wide flared skirt.



The back was next... and it was mid afternoon. I used the back piece of an actual 1930's gown for this, but with adaptations: an extra 10 inches of length, including a curved back train, and more flare in the skirt, and a seam up the back.





The side godets needed lengthening too. By this time Jule had called and since a friend was over helping her move, she was able to get to some accurate full length measurements (sigh of relief...).



Godets are cut, with an extra wide circular hem...



It's important with bias cut silk, to press the material right after cutting. This helps prevent further stretching of the bias and it 'sets' the drape somewhat. The silk pressed beautifully and slipped through my fingers like jade tinted water.



Finally, I had it all together: the bodice, the bias front, the two side backs, the two side godets, the thin shoulder straps, and a set aside back godet with train...

My final step today from four until the sun went down at 8 pm and all light faded from the bow window in the front room, was to baste all the pieces together by hand to make sure it all eased in together just right!



I was tired! Tomorrow I sew. Wish me luck!

Last night I finished blocking the Lucky Guy tie. Blocking really gave it a nice polished look and drape. I love it!





I love the bright green zig zag down the front. I can't decide if it looks like argyle or a snake!