A new gown in the making

Ever have something in your head then when it's laid out you start getting self doubt. I love how this dress is coming about but now I think I'm taking the godets out and using the darker gray. The lighter gray was more transparent they are both gun metal grey chiffon but it don't look right! The bodice half may look black but it is a real dark gray. I'm going take out the godets and have them match the bodice. Oh yeah and I'm back to my old ways with dark colors. Give me a little break though I did make happy butterflies with green and yellow!

Next dilemma my half gray and half red bodice. Should I have used red on one strap and gray on the other. Here is a comparison.

I think I like it with gray not the mix and match. Don't you love the peek a boo. It's on the sides too. Here is a glimpse of the side and the back. Still have lots of work but this is a cool gown if I do say so myself!

5-31-10

I took the godets out and match them to the darker gray. I am almost done just need to put a zipper in an maybe stitch where the openings are. I may also put some trim around the bodice not sure. Have to wait and show my sister to get her opinion. I can't wait to see what it looks like on. Hopefully I will post some more pictures tomorrow.

Bodice Blues Continued

Ok someone just send me over a pattern here! My bias tape gathering just isn't cutting it! I have the neckline down though. I'm going to take the elastic gathering out and do a set of pleats tomorrow.

I attached the skirt which is definitely full enough and will flare with the petticoat. Though tomorrow I will be taking it all apart.

Oh la la look what I get to make next 1940s style lace dress

This is so gorgeous! I can't wait to make it! I love vintage style clothes! I hope mine turns out as beautiful.

An extra bonus she wants silk and lace. How pretty is this going to be!

    

Got them bodice blues

So yesterday disaster is the past. A new day a new beginning. I scrapped the muslin mess I made and restarted with some extra cotton I found. I bought a little more so when the mock dress was finished it would all match.

Not as much progress as I hoped but now that I got my pieces together I think the rest should go smoothly.

Different cut alleviated the draping mess from yesterday. First picture just pinned to the form second some stitching complete.

Oh oh bodice looks good right? Well I happened to come across another picture of this dress and the bodice will work but I needed to do some adjusting to the sleeves. The dress is off the shoulders more than I seen in the previous picture. I fixed the left side but have to take out the right side so it lays a more off the shoulder. Minor adjustments to the sleeves. My next step is to add some more gathering which I think I'm going to use the casing & elastic trick as it seems to be better than just a long stitch gather.

It's really coming along. I'm happy with it!

Exciting New Project For Me

I get to make one of my dream dresses well with some modifications of course. This will be another wedding dress inspired by Audrey Hepburn from the movie Funny Face and also the picture next to it.

Basically the lady I'm doing this for wants Audrey's skirt and the bodice of the yellow dress. Here is the sketch I came up with for her. There will be a pink petticoat underneath. The bodice will be attached at the natural waistline instead of like Audrey's. Let's face it not many women can pull off that! The sleeves will be below the elbows instead of how I did the sketch and yes she will be wearing the converse!

I'm going to start by making a mock gown out of muslin. I have already purchased it as you will see in the below pictures.

Well unfortunately today was a FAIL. See how gathered and pretty the first picture is then you look at the one on the dress from and it is way too big. Not enough gathering, a disaster! I'm out of muslin so I will pick this up again tomorrow and try again. I did manage to get better gathering by putting an elastic casing on the side seam. I only did the one side to test it and I think it is going to work out as soon as I get the neckline smaller without being to low cut. Tomorrow I'm also going to get enough fabric to actually make it with the lining because that is going to make a big difference on how it lays.

The skirt was easy enough. Just cut three pieces of about a yard each. One for the center and two backs. That is three yards of skirt gathered to a small waist! The length is 33" which maybe shortened. I hope not lengthened since it's been cut. If it is not full enough I can always add more to the skirt.

Springtime Gown Complete

The final dress!

Butterfly Kisses:

Wedding Day Blues Springtime Gown

Ok so maybe I'm feeling sorry for myself but losing my job really sucks and with my finance also not working I doubt if we will keep our September date. I'm caught up on my custom orders but when I went to pick up my dress I didn't feel the move to work on it quite yet. So I decided to try to cheer myself up and go to the fabric store. My goal was to go outside my box I tend to go for dark colors. I would find happy fun spring colors and make a remarkable gown.

I've been working on this for three days. The fabric Green Grass Satin, lining yellow baroque satin and the blue green butterflies. Can't get more springy than this.

The Fabric

Here is the dress kind of blah right now:

The lining front and back

I had to serge it way before needed as this fabric frays a bit but it is still a lot prettier than traditional lining. Obviously you will not see this part of the dress when it is finished. You won't even see it when you look into the dress. You could almost turn the dress inside out and have a yellow dress if I used a reversible zipper.

A little tip when working with boning. (that don't sound right) Do not follow "Use a zipper foot" instructions the easiest thing is to either make your own casing with bias tape or cut your pieces like I did and take out the boning. I serged the bottom of each piece then sewed it to the lining. It lays nice and flat and if you follow the stitch lines of the casing you will have no problem putting the boning in its case. Also the casing needs to be centered to the seams not lined up.

Butterflies

Alot of gathering and serging on the seams top and bottom. This is a bolt of fabric!

I have laid the pieces on my dress form. It needs something else. I got fabulous fabric choices but it still doesn't grab me. I have something in mind so stay tuned!

5-21-10 2:01 pm

Here is more pictures of my progress. I pinned the butterfly fabric to the lining and sewed it. The picture doesn't show it but it has also been hemmed. The lining and butterflies are ready to go!

Here is a sneek peek of the dress over the lining front and back views. Pretty Craptacular! Boring topline. Going to have to work on it.

Well something needed to be done with the bodice so I made three layers of tucks to give it some texture:

40's Style Linen Dress

This dress was made with an imported European cross dyed linen fabric. It was rather stiff but worked beautifully for this dress. The dress is fully lined. The fabric was too coarse not to.

Custom Green 50s style Tea Dress

This is actually the same dress as the cherry dress. But my client needed it to be more semi-formal. This shows how versatile the dress is.

I used stretch sateen. It is beautiful fabric. She wanted a kelly green with white contrast and white for the other side of the reversible bolero. I'm shipping it out today so and will be anxiously waiting to see if it all works out.

With the white side of bolero:

The green side of the bolero:

Plugging away at my orders

I shipped this little dress yesterday. It must be green season because my next dress is going to be green too. I think it turned out cute. Now the wait to see if she likes it and if it fits ok!
It is kelly green with black contrast. My photos really didn't capture the color well.