Mother-of-the-Bride Dress

So this week's goal was to finish my mum's dress for the wedding. Quick and simple. We did it together, using fabrics of her choice and loosely patterning it off of early-mid 1500's Florentine with the very stiff front bodice and simple trim. I made her an ankle lace camicia out of muslin, and practiced my newly learned hobby of making Armenian needle lace on the front of the neckline and on the cuffs. I should've caught pictures of that, but it slipped my mind. We then made the sotanna out of a dark strawberry red poly/nylon taffeta we got on sale at Hancock's. The bodice is stiffened with several layers of canvas. For the sake of modesty, my mother wanted the neckline higher than I would normally have made it to get the right silhouette...this messed me up with drafting the armscyes and so there's some funny wrinkling on the bodice due to it. There is side back lacings through tiny machine made button holes (I wasn't thrilled with the idea of hand binding eyelets through the tight synthetic fabric). And for ease...the sleeves are sewn on to the shoulders where they should be tied or buttoned on.

I used a modern jacket pattern that my mum had previously used for herself and revamped it, taking out the darts and adding some curves and used that for the doublet pattern. It is made from some pretty flocked taffetta, lined with black cotton and interlined with a layer of cotton/poly quilt batting. I found some buttons with velvet centers at Uprising that went perfect, they are sewn to the front edge...and I cheated here again...the doublet closes with hook and eyes strategically placed under the buttons.

And thanks to Hastings for giving me the link to a picture showing an external pocket/pouch type thing. I tried it out for my mum out of the flocked taffeta and it turned out really nice except that I made the ties around the waist too short and so the pocket barely clears the bottom edge of the doublet. But she is happy with it there and so I'll leave them that length and make them longer for the pouch I want to make for myself. I also made her a simple partlet out of muslin and am letting her borrow my black crocheted hairnet that she made for me a while back.

All in all I think it worked out really well and we made good time. That's one set of garb crossed off the list of the thirteen I'm planning to do for the wedding.

To-Do

Being at a small breather point, I'm taking the morning to think over what I yet have to do for this dress. Its mostly the time consuming and not so favorite things to do left....

Dress- skirt and bodice are mostly done except for attatching them together and adding trim and hemming

Sleeves- Haven't even started on these yet, but I need to go find more buttons for attatching them to the shoulders. I have some lovely bone buttons carved like elephants that I want to use, but I haven't enough.

Handkerchief- I was planning on making this  to match the camicia and drawers with the same gold lace, but I'm almost out of that too, and the place where I ordered it is out of it as well.  So I'm thinking it'll be pretty simple, and I might embroider a pomegranate or something in each corner.

Shoes-As this is going to be my wedding dress, I want something comfortable and nice looking....so not sure if I'll attempt to make some Florentine style flats or not (I have the leather for the soles sitting in my closet) .

Soccaccia- I was wanting to make the kind that ties around the waist under the skirts....but having already finished my skirt without (stupidly) making a pocket slit in the side, the tie around the waist kind would be kind of useless. So further research is required here, about whether or not there is some sort of pocket or pouch that could be attached to the girdle? If all else fails, I'll just not make a pouch...after all that's what bridesmaids are for, carrying things;-)

Belt- I suck with jewelry and stringing beads and all that type stuff, as I think I've mentioned. Also, I have been having a terrible time finding beads that I like to make a Girdle, so I really don't have much of a plan here.

Zibellino- I have the fur, just need to sew it into a tube. I'm working on something possibly brilliant for the head.

Stockings- My mom may possibly actually knit me a pair, if i can find white sock yarn.

So that's my to do list....along with getting everything ready for all my bridesmaids and the groomsmen...so much sewing to do and only about four-five months left.

the promised pictures

Here's the pictures of the partlet, one on the dummy and then a close-up of the blanket stitched and beaded edge (which is the same all the way around the veil). I am sucky when it comes to making any sort of jewelry, so the necklace is something I purchased from 'Silver Images' at Uprising last week. It works perfectly with my dress.

I was intending to sew the second row of trim on my zimarra this evening, but misplaced the roll of trim....not good.

Little Update

Back from a wonderful week at Uprising. I was able to do quite a bit of shopping there and got most of what i need for trim, buttons, and some of the rest of my fabric that I need for wedding outfits. I'm close to having most of my materials grouped, and nearly ready to start delegating the sewing of it all.

For the IRCC challenge; I have finally finished hemming my veil. It took only about three-four weeks. I went around it once, rolled hemming it with a whip-stitch and fighting the raw edges and shifty nature of the chiffon. The second time around I used a blanket stitch and added a bead every inch or so. I think I turned out looking acceptably nice. I order the metal hair comb yesterday to which I will attach the veil.

And then, last night, with a wonderful spurt of energy, I draped the pattern for my partlet, cut it out, and got it hemmed all the way around. This is especially amazing because I used the same silk chiffon as the veil. My technique; I laid the pattern on the chiffon and traced around it with fray check, let it dry, and then cut it out along the hard edge created by the fray check. This then makes it very easy to fold over a really narrow hem and there are no stray threads from raveling fabric! To finish, this morning I went around the curve for the neck, using a blanket stitch in gold floss and adding beads so that the partlet matches the veil.

Hopefully Ill get pictures taken within the next few days, but now I must be off to work.

Quick Update

Just sent in another IRCC update in this morning. Since I'm short on time this morning, ill just post pictures here for now.

So I can cross out drawers and garters off my list. I'm now working on hemming and trimming my veil. Going on that has been painfully slow so far, since rolled hemming sheer silk chiffon is not the easiest thing in the world to do.

I also had a little hiccup with the green velveteen I was planning to use for my overdress. it had been a while since I had looked closely at it, so when I unfolded it the other day I was irked to find that it has that rather obnoxious rubberized backing.  SO....made a special shopping trip to the city and I was able to find some rough silk in the exact pale gold as the floss I've been using, but now I need to find a suitable lining for that as the black linen I was planning to use for the green just wont go. I have some ideas, but this hiccup wasn't really budgeted for. Oh well.

Finally Finished With One Thing

The camicia is finally finished! It took alot longer than I was planning, but I am very happy with the results. The entire thing is done by hand. 

I  rolled-hemming all the individual pieces, and assembled them using a herringbone type stitch.  The cuffs are smocked by hand, the embroidered band added, and then trimmed in a narrow gold lace. They tie shut with braided cord. I also smocked the neckline by hand, and stitched the gold lace over the edge. I am still thinking of going back and attatching a linen tape to the inside to help re-enforce the smocking threads, but I am currently to anxious to get on to the next part. One thing I have also learned is that, even though it may take longer to individually hem all the little gussets and gores and bodice pieces, it sure make Y seams much easier to do and looks much nicer.  

 Now I'm on to a smaller project, one that won't take nearly as long, either the drawers, stockings or garters....

Just a Little Update

So I haven't actually been doing much sewing, but I made some acquisitions. I bought some misshapen pearl beads for my girdle, I'm still not sure what I'm doing for my girdle, but this is a start. I also got around to order some sheer silk for my veil. Its from a place I've never ordered from before, and its a weave that I'm not familiar with, but it was set at such a good price I though I would risk it....we shall see what happens. And earlier this afternoon, m'lord and I stopped in to check out a consignment shop, and found a pair of furs, about long enough for a Zibellino, but I'm unsure of what sort of animal they be...they are a beautiful reddish brown with longer black hairs, and its really soft and on the fuzzy size. I figured I knew a bit about fur-bearers since I've dabbled in tanning a fox or two...The guy at the shop said they were something from Asia. ...So who knows. Either way, they are beautiful and I really like them and I think one of them shall work very nicely with my dress.

I was hoping to get my camicia done this weekend, but ended up doing other things. I ought to be able to finish my embroidery tonight though with no problem.