Complete! Wedding Sewing

'Tis done, 'tis finished, 'tis finished, 'tis done! Yup, the wedding has been and gone, and this is the first night I've been able to keep my eyes open long enough to actually post about it. I didn't realise how nervous I was about something going wrong (that was my fault) until the morning itself. The bride said I could come and take some photos beforehand while the photographers were doing their thing, and I was actually shaking as I knocked on the door! Evidently I'm not a good candidate for ever doing this kind of thing professionally :)

I think the best moment for me was seeing her for the first time - I didn't recognise the dress! I just saw her, and she was radiant. I figure that's a sign I did my job properly :) So, here 'tis:

Silk chiffon skirt over satin backed crepe and chantilly lace over the bodice.

We did the back as a cut out, with a zip as the lower back fastening and buttons at the neck.

A fairly rubbish "back" shot taken on my phone after I realised I hadn't taken a proper one earlier...

We used Salme Patterns' Sleeveless Yoke Top as a starting point. The pattern has the yoke as a separate sheer piece, sewn into the sweetheart bodice. I did an overlay of fine tulle instead, that I could sew the lace to (will explain in a moment). I lowered the back bodice almost to the waist seam and used the tulle for the upper back sections.

This was because the part of the lace that she really loved was the exquisite edging, while the main fabric, though lovely, wasn't really what she wanted. This meant quite a lot of fairly painstaking cutting out. (She pitched in with this, so we called the dress a joint effort ;) ) Below is the section allocated to sleeves - there was a LOT more!

Because we were working with more or less straight lines of fabric now, it meant I couldn't just cut out bodice-shaped pieces. So the bodice was formed from two long pieces, that started from one zip edge at back and encircled the bodice, ending back at the zip, one piece edging the upper bodice and the other edging the waist. (does that make sense??) The shallower scallops were the outer edges, though we trimmed them off at the decolletage.

So far so good. But, as you can imagine, once it was handsewn down at upper bodice and waist, there was a lot of fabric flapping about in between. I got around that by snipping away excess between main motifs, and then layering them to sit flat. You can see in the shots below firstly the pinned section, sitting flat against the bodice (already sewn down) and some "flappy" excess. The second shot shows that excess cut away, ready for layering.

The main trick was keeping each side symmetrical.... Got there in the end though! The really fiddly part was the upper back sections (see third photo above). The scalloped lace edging needed to be along that diagonal line from below the arms to the neck. This is where the tulle overlay was so helpful. Lots of tiny stitches (yup,  it's all still hand-sewing here...) meant I could manipulate it gradually into shape. And I managed to use those deeper scallops from the inner cut part of the edging as the upper neck, over the shoulders and down to meet the front at the bust. The cap sleeves used the outer scalloped edging also, and were sewn into place.

The main skirt was just a bit fuller than A-line; there were talks about whether to make it stand out wider (Helen, I was reading up on your petticoat notes at this point :) ) but in the end she decided she really wanted a soft fall to it. And a train.Which I totally sympathise with - when else do you get to have a train, after all? I think the chiffon overskirt had about 2 1/2 times the fullness, but I can't remember for sure. I do know that handsewing the narrow rolled hem took a freakin' long time...( But when my girl, who's only 12, looked at the machined practice hem and the hand-done practice hem she said, "You really want it to be the nicest it can be..." Touche.)

Something New? Dress. Something Borrowed? Veil. Something Old? Some absolutely beautiful vintage glass buttons. I'm told they're originally from the 1920s. Love....

Does anyone know how to sew buttonholes on extremely fine lace? I don't, so had to improvise. Since we had the last bit of lace from the bolt, there was a narrow selvedge edge. I pinned and basted this to the back of the lace and sewed the buttonhole (Practice piece below). This gave it enough stability to prevent it getting chewed up in the machine. Once done, I trimmed the excess away as closely to the stitching as I could manage. (Embroidery scissors have been my saving grace during this project!). It worked - and was pretty much invisible from the front.

The Something Blue may be my favourite part of the whole dress. And nobody saw it! So I'm going to share it here. I nearly did it as a surprise, but then it occurred to me that a wedding dress probably shouldn't be experimented on. So I checked, got a "yes! yes! yes!" from the bride, and went ahead. The Something Blue was the lyrics to the song they had during the ceremony, embroidered on to the bodice lining. Isn't it nice when what you see working in your head actually works in real life!

And now to the Bridesmaids. And to why I know I'll never be one of the top sewing bloggers. Even though I went to the house prior to the ceremony in order to get close up photos and detail shots, THESE ARE THE ONLY TWO I TOOK OF THE BRIDESMAIDS. Just got too caught up in the emotion and excitement, I'm afraid! Or maybe all those years of Aaron suggesting I put the camera down and start actually enjoying the moment rather than recording it are starting to bear fruit. Never mind, here they are:

Again, I didn't do a separate piece for the yoke; it's a full overlay. This was because the fabric used underneath the chiffon was different for each dress. The "under" fabric surprised me as we were choosing it, because fabrics that at first looked like an obvious match to the chiffon (which was picked first), would often alter the colour of the chiffon over the top - sometimes startlingly. So in the end we choose the under fabric according to how it "disappeared" under the chiffon. So the lemon dress is cream underneath, the lavender is blue, while the mint one is almost silver grey. And thus, we needed a full overlay!

Please, please notice the chiffon bias binding at the neck, shoulders and back opening. That's probably the most fiddly, time-consuming sewing I've ever done. And I shall die a happy woman if I never have to again...

Isn't it a good thing that french seams look so lovely, given how much extra work they can be? I was really reproaching myself over how long the skirts were taking me at the time. But then I worked out, that if there are four dresses, with three skirts on each, with each skirt having six seams, and each seam having to be sewn twice to be french, that's a grand total of 144 seams. (Really : 4 x 3 = 12, 12 x 6 =72, 72 x 2 = 144). I went easier on myself after that. And one good thing - after handsewing the bride's chiffon hem, these ones seemed to be done in a snap! Well, snappish...

So there you have it - my last four months! Thank you to all of you who've left encouraging and supportive comments along the way - I've appreciated your kindness so much. I think it's time for some selfish sewing now. My queued for-me project list is getting out of control...

Oh, and by the way, there was a groom at the wedding too ;)

Have a wonderful week :)

Danielle oxo

Salme Peplum Top

Last year I read the following piece of sartorial advice: if you're old enough to remember a trend the last time it was in, you're too old to wear it the next time. While I think most fashion "rules" should be taken with a grain (or more) of salt - I have a very dear, very trendy and not-in-the-least-muttony friend of fifty - I was delighted to have a credible-sounding excuse for another very dear friend of twenty as to why I wouldn't be venturing out in a ra-ra or bubble skirt any time soon.

But I think I can squeeze in on the peplum trend; I vaguely remember them in the eighties, but was several years off ever wearing one. (Mind you, my Barbies sported a number of peplum dresses, skirts and tops, including a fairly nightmarishly garish fuchsia and purple one.)

Enter Salme Patterns. I came across this designer on the fantastic list of independent designers at A Good Wardrobe and was smitten. Her designs are so elegant, with a really timeless quality. And I couldn't believe the price - I would as happily have paid double what she charges.

I found a lovely medium weight red bengaline, which is a fabric I haven't worked with much before. It had a bit of stretch to it, but it doesn't seem to have affected the fit.(If it wasn't for the fact that I bought it three weeks ago, I'd suspect that subconsciously I was reacting to the knitting fail from the last post: ("Hello tailored red - take that, shapeless grey!") Here 'tis:

It's the first time I've used a pattern in which I've had to add the seam allowance (very glad I read through the instructions first!) Wasn't too ardous a task, though I'm glad I did up a muslin first. The back (which I've just noticed I didn't photograph - narrow keyhole opening, with a self-covered button - looove those - at the neck) fit like a dream; the front I had to tweak a bit, what with me not being a standard size. I'm very happy with the final fit though.

The pattern instructed that the front opening edges be sewn together. I didn't, simply because it sat so nicely as it was, thanks to the weight and stiffness of the fabric. I'd really like to try it in a similarly weighted but drapier fabric, which would need the neck edges sewn to sit well but also give the peplum a softer "flowier" look. This one's unashamedly a bit theatrical!

I don't often go for patterns that are too obviously trendy; if I'm going to go to the trouble of making them, I want them to last and pull their wardrobe weight. But this one seduced me with how classic the top section is. Plus, once the current trend is exhausted, I figure with a bit of extra labour I can reshape the peplum so it's tailored to the hips. So points awarded for fashionableness and longevity!

I learned a new technique in hemming too - how to ease and steam excess fabric into shape. I'd read - well, skimmed - this in my new copy of Couture Sewing Techniques (highly recommended. Just saying...), but this pattern talked me through it very clearly. Sew the widest possible stitch 5mm in from outer edge, then fold over and pin. Pattern warned that many pins were necessary. And it was so...

Use an iron to gently steam hem. With enough steam (and pins) fabric will shrink to fit. Then fold over again, repeat process then sew hem with normal stitch. There you have a pucker-free, excess-free hem!

So a slightly happier post this time around! PLUS, I've found my fabric for the Sew For Victory 40s Sewalong! It's not from my stash, since I donated all of my stash when we moved house two years ago, so it doesn't tick that particular "make do and mend" box in the guidelines. But I guess with a bit of creative thinking you could call it thrifty, since I chose the best quality I could afford - I want this dress to still be wearable in fifty years. And that, I'm told, is genuine economy! (Besides, I really, really wanted silk...)

I've managed to get past my momentary "I'm never bothering to knit anything again ever" sulk, and so now on the needles we have a lightweight cotton jumper for my almost twelve year old girl (Twelve! Still getting my head around that...) It's top-down and seamless like the last effort, so at least the experience wasn't a total loss (though Nessa gave me some very promising salvaging ideas...). I'm doing the smallest size which may still be a bit big, but since it's designed as a fitted style I'm thinking that for the first year it might just be more of a slouchy look. And it's nice after all to get more than season out of a jumper! 

The more I see of the online sewing world the more excited I become. So many projects, swaps, challenges, sewalongs and more to get involved in! It's so hard to restrict myself. I'm going to have to live (sew?) vicariously through other people's projects for a while I think....

Which projects/swaps/challenges/sewalongs are you involved in? How is it/are they progressing?

Have a wonderful week :)