another finish - Bridesmaid gown

The pink bridesmaid gown was finished and delivered on Monday. I put in bra strap stays at the edge of the bodice to keep it in place over the bra.

They took longer than the hems!4 bra strap stays with one part of a popper on either end and the other part on the gown. So, basically 16 times sewing the bits!

I had just enough of the transparent poppers...they were in a load of things from someone's mother's sewing supplies when they went into a home.
I think I will look for more, just in case.

Back to the blog

In the meanwhile, I have been 2 days at Festival of Quilts. At the wedding. Getting over the headache which was part of all that and watching Olympics.
Starting on the bridesmaid dress -sister of the 1st wedding dress I did.

Interesting comparison for lacing up the back.

Lacing on the wedding dress from last weekend made of interlined satin.

Lacing on the bridesmaid dress made of chiffon - not interlined.

Yes. Hmm.

So, I adjusted the folds onto the loops for the lower part of the lacing, found out she could still get in and out wit the lace loosened from this above this point

...and then as part of the other adjustments, I tacked the lace to the loops for the last few. Oh, and stitched up the gap below the lacing as it looked like an unfortunate ripped seam when she had it on.
No, I didn't have to, but I was watching Olympics anyway. What the rest will look like will depend on who is lacing it up. But I won't be at that wedding.

More lovely photos of the dress (well, Bride and Groom) from the wedding last week.
front

back

She was beautiful.

lace trim

Yesterday, hemmed the under layer after hours of trying to get the overlocker set to the 3 thread narrow setting. Actually, this one didn't really need it, but it was easier to trim and overlock at once. Then turned for a narrow hem.

Today stitching the lace trim in the new position and trimming away the excess lace behind.

Then we will be done.

Life happens

So, I haven't been around here as much as I like. By the time I get time I have been too tired.

I had a nerve block done on Monday (my birthday!) for my neck...hoping it will help headaches. but in the meanwhile, since the injection sites are on the back of the head...well. I am finally getting around to the point where I don't feel like I banged my head on several nails. The first few days I also slept more than I expected I would.

The neck is already better in that it isn't just the pain from recent times that has eased off, but also the everyday for many years pain. So, it is sort of like something is missing! It is helping me not to tense up so much and hold my shoulders around my ears.

And today I sewed. So, I am glad for that.

On Sunday we checked out the lacing for wedding gown no.2. We found it worked best for her if we started at the bottom.

2 things besides the fact that we haven't put the modesty panel in yet.
- I wish I had started the loops nearer the top, But I was concerned they wouldn't be so secure. So, there is a wide elasticated waist stay which we found isn't needed as a waist stay because of how it makes it sit at the front. And today I took it out (only stitched in from the side seams.) and I am repositioning them to pull at the top of the bodice. Pulling the lacing wasn't helping the bosom to fit, but when we pulled from the side seam at the top, it did work.
It is not the easiest thing to do, what with all the boning spronging the bodice around when you are trying to get it under the machine...and the integrated petticoat weighting and pulling the dress away from the machine!

- The pulling lines across the hips are more from the boning I used holding the curve from being wound in the package. So today I steamed/pressed the humps and they seem to be straighter.

And when these are sorted. There is the hem! A straightforward hem on this one. Lining is behind the netted petticoat, so doesn't need to be hemmed at the same time as the layer of fabric behind the lace.
And then re-siting the lace...a matter of a bit of hand stitching and no embellishments!

Something on Saturday

This has been a bit of a week.
However, the wedding gown (no.2) I am working on has behaved very well. Lovely to come hide away and do a bit of work on it when life is a bit too much.

Zip replaced by lacing loops. We will check out the lacing tomorrow and then see where to position the modesty panel.

Lovely heavy lace on this one. And NO beads!
The lace on the other one was sooo fine it kept catching on the beads and sequins.

back to my own work

After hours of sewing on beads and sequins that were falling and kept falling off of the wedding gown (no.1), I finally got it finished. And today it was collected. Much falling in love with it all over again on her part.
Much joy to see the back of it on my part!

I don't know why I struggled with this. The alterations I had to do were simple, but the threads holding the beading were worn from being a shop model. This added to the complication that they had run the threads along for sometimes 3 or 4 inches under the surface of the lace with out a stop stitch. So, when a sequin had caught in the lace, the weight of the gown would pull the threads. Areas were puckered when she first brought it. and with all the pulling, something had to give! so the thread did ...
and then the sequins and beads slowly came unsewn. Being me, I couldn't just let broken threads hang off, completely unbeaded motifs remain amongst partially beaded ones. And the thought of it still shedding them as she went down the isle! I think I did major repairs on almost all the motifs!


Anyway, after a nap, I thought I would read a book. But my gown won out. And so I have spent a joyful afternoon sewing pearls on the gown (yes! for some reason it was totally different!)and listening to the cricket! And it was more like a summer day today, which probably helped.

I have already got halfway down the front as well!

I will be working on wedding gown no.2 next week. (My closest friend's daughter) My friend has been doing the unpicking, and there are no beads/sequins. Hurrah!
But somehow I think this one will be more joyful. I think I would rather (if I need to do alterations.) do them as a gift than even for reduced rates for friend's daughters.

But I think, judging from this, that I enjoy making my own designs and seeing them come together under my fingers.

Here is a photo of the lining at the point where all the seams come together in one spot.

You can see there is an inset seam to deal with on front and back, too! But love the putting together of the puzzle. I wouldn't probably do it on a quilt, but a gown...yes.

fitting

We had another fitting of the wedding gown I am altering. New hem length tacked in place and galloon lace moved is okay to finalise.

A better idea for bustling looks good. Easier to see how the bustling works with the front being more near the right length. The new straps were a hit.

I have been replacing sequins and beads which had fallen off (it was a shop display version). So, this should be pretty near done before the end of the month.
We will do another fitting nearer the time to check a few things.

So, I have made the appointment for the next gown fitting for my closest friend's daughter whose wedding is several weeks sooner than this one!

Straps

The wedding gown I am altering had wide lace straps which really did nothing for the gown and swamped the small young lady who will wear it.
So, she wanted spaghetti straps. I thought about cord, because it looks elegant and I wasn't sure I could find fabric to match. However, just one strand would look a little like someone added straps to a strapless. We liked the look of two strands twisted, more than 3 braided, which was a bit too heavy looking.

BUT, getting two strands twisted to stay twisted nicely was another thing.

I tried stitching the 2 together with a rayon thread that blended in. But the result was very stiff and not really twisted.

So, I tried a sort of plait but using that rayon thread that blends. It works quite well.

I had to make 3 to get it to the point where 2 of them 'matched'. So, the whole procedure took quite a bit of time, but I have the end result of the journey to remember for any future time I want a similar look.

Of course they will look better altogether when on the gown on the person!

working on a waist stay

Helps to take the weight of the skirt so there is not so much worry about wardrobe malfunction

...keeps the bodice where it belongs.

Also this week

Working on gown alterations.

First up getting rid of 'eyelashes'.

Spot the difference.

(the coloured cloth underneath is to protect the gown from dog hairs and random bits of string and fluff that seem to spontaneously grow on my studio carpet!)

ticking over

I am still here. Just dealing with too many headaches this week. If not at the start of the day, they come later. So, by the end of the day, I haven't been too motivated to find something to blog about.
However, I am making good progress with sewing the wardrobe.

Also this week, I started working with the daughter of a friend who is getting married. She brought her dress and I am going to do a few alterations for her.

Including working out a bustle so she can dance in it in the evening. The train is pretty heavy. After some time, we got something near enough to what I will make it so she could see how it would look.
Yes, it will be even and the buttons done up over the zip! She also wants the 'eyelashes' on the lace edge trimmed off. I think you can just about see them at the bottom of the train.
I haven't seen her for ages, but she has turned out to be a very lovely girl. I won't show you the whole dress as she wants to keep it fairly secret/


And then today I spent a few hours at the an Easter Fair at the community centre, organised by the local councillors. It was mostly a craft fair, but I had a table with a few of the pieces from the TVCT Worn Threads exhibition.

work from left to right - Mavis Roles- 'A Fading Bloom', Annie Hamilton- 'Ten Thousand Apples', Mavis Walker- 'The Blue Toddler' and my 'Seams' wax paper piece.

As I had these pieces with some of the others stored here, I thought it might be a good plan to take them! No catalogues sold, but there were several people interested in the group. Since we meet at the community centre, I thought it might be good to interest local people.

The stand must have been interesting as the Mayor decided he needed a photo along side of it! So I got them to take one with my camera, too.

An extra thank you to my friend who showed up just when I really needed some help!