Muslin: Round 2

I think this is the most fabric I've ever used in a single go.  I didn't believe it when I saw someone go through 2 bolts of muslin working on their wedding gown, but I can see how now.


I am really excited about how great this is looking and how well it is coming together. The draping was my biggest concern, because the entire dress is a Frankenpattern of sorts... Iteration 3 of the dress I found tucked away in the costume shop.  The original was ripped apart to have a second life as a pattern. It became Sunset, the red dress I ripped apart to use as a pattern when I realized its muslin was long gone. You see it above in the middle layer of the pattern sandwich, with muslin round one on top and length and a train added with mostly ignored guidance from Vogue 2788 on the bottom, augmented by newspaper.  It is crazy to think that the red piece is knee- length.  It's been a journey, friends.  But the finish line is in sight.


I spent 2 movies drafting the back, and another one drafting the front.  At that point, I started to cut, and we're looking at another movie and a half there.  Then there was the scary moment where I thought I didn't have enough fabric... because I ordered everything a month or so ago.  And so there was biting of nails until I laid everything out, and it was all gravy, but with 8 yards of 54" fabric, JUST barely. The laying out muslin pieces on pretty silk was all podcasts, but I think I listened to 3? So another hour?
I pinned all of my pieces in over the course of another 2 podcasts, but these were game shows and This American Life, so I think that's another almost 2 hours. They went together very quickly because of all the prep though, so just another hour and change.  Lake Woebegone and Ask Me Another.
This dress is a yardage monster, but I think it is worth every little bit.  It is also the most time I have spent on a single garment... If we add it up, to this point, that's 5.5 movies.  Let's just say they're each a little over 2 hours long. 2.25x5.5? 12.375... 12 hours and 20 minutes, ish.   Plus another 4.5 hours of podcasts.  And the pictures you're looking at are from a fitting session that was about an hour.  So... Let's round up and say 17 hours to that point.  Seventeen.

But it's worth it.
It is, after all, my wedding dress.

Muslin: round 1

S Jon graduated and I house-sat and a million other things got in the way of sewing... Which, I know, I know, can't be an excuse for much longer but look!

The pretty! Straight grain lines! Bust points in the right places! A really great line in the shoulder piece I just kinda guessed on. Huzzah! But...

Yep.  That's a big ole gap in center back. When it wasn't a gap before. I have theories... Fluctuating weight is certainly a contribution, but so is the fact that the only "support" in this version comes in the bra I'm wearing. Which, before you ask, will be built in on the real dress. If not this one then one very much like it.  

I'm waiting on a gap in my schedule and a giant table to occur in roughly the same time frame so that I can make the muslin of the whole dress, adding a good inch to both sides of the center back seam. I'm thinking next week... And I get my schedule soon so then I will know with some certainty. 

Today marks 6 months to the wedding, and my goal is to hang this up, all finished, on or before 4 months from now. Ready set GO! 

Sketching and photos

I'm modifying a dress I've made before. The original dress is one I made 5 years ago, based on one made in the fifties and the most finished(think guts) dress I have ever made. I tried it on and it fits! One step down. It fits pretty well, but with modifications I plan to make, I'm going to muslin the whole thing just to make sure, with absolute certainty, that I will have he best possible fit on my wedding day.  I'm making fewer changes in different ways than I thought I would after trying on dresses, and more in other ways.

The original dress was made in the fifties, and I chronicled a good chunk of the taking apart and grading up and altering the line in a series of posts, tagged Sunset. (Click here to see those.)

Here's the original in a selfie (taken a couple of weeks ago after 3 years... It still fits! Hallelujah!!): 

And here are my sketches. 

I'll be changing the straps so they are their own pieces, keeping all the volume, and adding length and a train. Pearl buttons and maybe some pearls at the neckline and shoulders.  Lace at the shoulders and along the hem if there's any at all. Dupioni silk. A pop of color in the petticoat. 

Now, to go through a bolt of muslin for the mock-ups. 

Are you ready? I'm ready. 

On wedding dress styles

When I went to my hometown for the day yesterday to look at some wedding reception places, I decided it was important to try on wedding dresses with my mom at least once. When I found out the place that I bought my senior prom dress from(did college application stuff instead of sewing it) is selling some wedding dresses these days, I knew it was the perfect kind of full circle.

We walked in and started flipping through racks of dresses and pulling all shapes and shades of white and textures- slinky satin, soft laces, a line dresses, with trains, without trains, with straps/cap sleeves, strapless, and, of course, all different levels of poufyness. I thought I knew what I wanted, so I tried on lots of dresses with less full skirts that were a bit fitted through the hips. We pulled a couple of "princess dresses" just to rule them out, and instead we ruled them in.  I thought I liked lace, and a little beading. Turns out I'm not all that crazy about a dress full of it, and i much prefer pearls to crystally things. Those were good and odd moments of clarity. 

What I discovered hadn't changed from the thoughts in my head: 

I want to be able to move in my wedding dress. Walk freely. Dance. Not worry about exposing myself. Find a way to incorporate old lace. 

It's food for thought to be sure. I'm thinking abut how to add some pouf and change up a neckline. Sketches soon. 

A BIG project

I am undertaking the biggest project I have to date because a man asked me a question. 

Jon asked me to marry him, and I said yes! 

And now, I am making my wedding dress. 

And because he promised not to peek, I get to share the journey with y'all! 

Getting married, I'm hoping, will make me a better chronicler of things, a better thank you note writer, and one more prepared for challenges ahead, and those are just the things I'm hoping will happen between now and November when we tie the knot. 

Yaaaay!

Now, let the planning begin. 

Words of wisdom, anyone?

Sewlutions 2014

So y'all, 
I updated the queue. You know, that page that I've ignored for a solid... Too long to remember?
And I have posts for you. A few of them. Especially since Christmas was pretty handmade. And involved a quilt!

So here is the list from 2013. There will(WILL!) be some going back into the depths of the queue to edit and cull as well, and hopefully some more frequent posts. We shall see!


Winter 2013-2014
Corduroy blazer
Quilt for J.
Bag for Mama
Jewelry roll for KDB
Purple plaid kindle cover for my baby brother
Big brother backpack for a little cousin
Fancy dress for a feisty fancy girl(and her baby doll will need one too, of course.)
Slippers for dad


Fall 2013
Colette Juniper wearable muslin
Sewaholic Thurlow wearable muslin
Pleated yoke shirt in floral print
Colette Laurel? Eucalypt tank dress? Something.

Spring/Summer 2013
Red TNT skirt for baseball season
Red stole
Knit tees. With cute details.
Navy stripe mystery fabric skirt
Crazy floral pleated skirt
Border print pleated skirt
Bag for my BFF