Wedding Dress
Here is my summer project of 2003--my friend Mey's
wedding dress. This picture was taken on the day of the wedding.
(No, I didn't make my dress. She had six bridesmaids, so I
told her I couldn't make all of those dresses too.)
I used two different patterns for the dress. She had already seen and tried on a dress that she really liked, so using that as my guide, I selected Butterick 6926 for the bodice and McCall's 3869 for the skirt. Once we had chosen our patterns, it was time for fabric selection. I took Mey to Silk Road in Oakland where we found a very lovely white polyester peau-de-soie. We got very lucky with the embroidered organza; we had looked at some that was rather expensive, and then suddenly Joann was carrying some that was exactly what we were looking for and was about one tenth the price of what we had been looking at. The final touches were bought quite a bit later; we found the lace trim and beaded appliques online for an excellent price.
I
started with the bodice, making it up in a cotton twill first and doing
three separate fittings until it fit perfectly. I then made up
the bodice exactly as the pattern directed. I didn't bother doing
a mock-up of the skirt, but I did estimate how long the skirt would
need to be and shortened
the pattern pieces accordingly. I assembled both layers of the
skirt
separately, then attached both layers to the bodice. All of the
gathering
in the skirt is done in the back as shown in the picture to the
right,
while the front is smooth. After my good fortune of getting the
skirt
and the bodice attached on the first try without any problems, I didn't
want
to attempt the zipper; so I cheated a bit and got my mom to put the
zipper
in.
Once
the dress was together, it was time for another fitting to pin the hem.
I hemmed the peau-de-soie by hand, but the organza I simply
serged since I would be adding lace to the edge. I then attached
the lace by hand; I ordered five yards of lace and used exactly five
yards! I also decided to sew the appliques onto the bodice by
hand. I had purchased five pairs of appliques and cut some of
them up to fill in various spaces. Once I had each applique
pinned into place and was pleased with the placement, I sewed them on,
and then the dress was done.
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Costume Page
I used two different patterns for the dress. She had already seen and tried on a dress that she really liked, so using that as my guide, I selected Butterick 6926 for the bodice and McCall's 3869 for the skirt. Once we had chosen our patterns, it was time for fabric selection. I took Mey to Silk Road in Oakland where we found a very lovely white polyester peau-de-soie. We got very lucky with the embroidered organza; we had looked at some that was rather expensive, and then suddenly Joann was carrying some that was exactly what we were looking for and was about one tenth the price of what we had been looking at. The final touches were bought quite a bit later; we found the lace trim and beaded appliques online for an excellent price.
I
started with the bodice, making it up in a cotton twill first and doing
three separate fittings until it fit perfectly. I then made up
the bodice exactly as the pattern directed. I didn't bother doing
a mock-up of the skirt, but I did estimate how long the skirt would
need to be and shortened
the pattern pieces accordingly. I assembled both layers of the
skirt
separately, then attached both layers to the bodice. All of the
gathering
in the skirt is done in the back as shown in the picture to the
right,
while the front is smooth. After my good fortune of getting the
skirt
and the bodice attached on the first try without any problems, I didn't
want
to attempt the zipper; so I cheated a bit and got my mom to put the
zipper
in. Once
the dress was together, it was time for another fitting to pin the hem.
I hemmed the peau-de-soie by hand, but the organza I simply
serged since I would be adding lace to the edge. I then attached
the lace by hand; I ordered five yards of lace and used exactly five
yards! I also decided to sew the appliques onto the bodice by
hand. I had purchased five pairs of appliques and cut some of
them up to fill in various spaces. Once I had each applique
pinned into place and was pleased with the placement, I sewed them on,
and then the dress was done.Home
Costume Page