The Wedding Dress Saga Continues

So the work on my wedding dress continues.

I have finished the embroidery for the bodice top of the dress.  It was a total pain and I admittedly cried several times when there were snags or mishaps in the positioning and hooping.  Just like in regular embroidery you have to hoop the fabric for machine embroidery.  You want everything to be perfect and precision. The embroidery itself only does a set of two flowers at a time,  There was a lot of trial and error to figure out how to hoop over previous embroidery without making the frame pop out of the hoop.  I also started with no stabilizer and a single basting stitch down the length.  Both were bad calls.  After the first two sets were done I knew I needed at least a tear away stabilizer to help keep the hoop from popping out against the slippery organza.  Then I also added rows of horizontal basting stitches across the first length wise basting stitching to give the two layers of organza more stability.  After that it was all about marking and repositioning before the next set of flowers.  One time my heart stopped as I was working on it and the boy didn't realize I was there and turned the lights off which also turn the power off in the studio.

I'm really happy with how it turned out, now I just need to remove the rest of the tear away stabilizer and the basting stitches.  I've decided to use cotton sateen for lining of the dress.  I've still got a long way to go
 like figuring out my closure if  I want it to be hook and eye tape, invisible zipper or what.  Also since this is strapless how to keep it up.  I think I am going to use a combination of lingerie elastic that has the slightly sticker side like on strapless bras and maybe retro fit a strapless bra into it as well.

I've also finished one row of the three rows of pleats for the bottom.  This is the middle section of pleats, they are 1" knife pleats, above them will be 1/2" knife pleats and below some 1" rufflles.  I made these pleats using a "Pleater" board that I made which I will follow up with a tutorial on how I made it and how to use a little later.  The black stitches are just basting to hold everything together before the final sewing.  I like using a darker thread so that I can see where i needs to be pulled out more easily.

 

The full dress so far and I really am not that tall!  It had been so long since I tried to put my pieces together I forgot the end of the inner layer of organza was the hem bottom and the pleats needed to be about 8-12 inches higher.  but you get the idea.  I also tried on the extra crinoline that my cousin got at her wedding to see the fullness for once I am done.

 

Lastly I got this fantastic gem in the mail!  It is my replacement for a veil, I am going to attach a birdcage type veil to it and hotfix Swavorski rhinestones to it.  You can buy it already blinged out on Etsy but I knew I could do that and didn't want to pay that full price.  In honestly I could of done the entire thing myself but it felt dirty to copy someone else's work even if it was just once for the wedding.  I felt I needed to at least buy the base and help support another artist out.   This headpiece can be found here!

Starting the Dress

My biggest and most stressful project has officially started to take some shape.  This project that I speak of is a dress for my wedding, not necessarily my wedding dress but it might be.  We'll see where it goes from here.

Here is what I have started thus far.  I don't think I will keep the bow at the top but who knows ones I get them into the right fabrics.  This right now is my mock up for size, pleating and measurements.

The one nice thing while I am working is the Kitty's are really interested in all of it so I get company in that cold cold basement. The materials for the final will be either a silk charmeuse lining or a light weight cotton/linen blend.  I know they are vastly different, it just depends how the weight of each one goes with the out skirts.  The final exterior will be all silk organza.

Motivation

Well my mom over the weekend sure wasn't a great motivator to start working on my dress.  I thought I would make one last ditch attempt to find a dress that is mostly what I want that I could just add or build up on. 
I tried this on at Saks 5th over the weekend and it so lovely but Mom put a firm NAY on it being a wedding dress option.  It was a much lighter Creme color instead of the Tan one they have on their website.

Oh I found a picture but you can't see it as clearly as the Tan one anyways. Not that it matters much since Mom said Nay.

You might wonder why I am putting so much stock into what my mom says.  Well I figure let the Ceremony be hers and the Reception me and Andy's!  I am the only girl and the youngest so she will never get to have this moment ever again.  I like always make considerations to my Mom's happiness within reason. 

Trying on this dress did give me some ideas for my own dress.  Perhaps I will go with a more Traditional Hanbok for the entire thing.  I'll just do a white/creme one for the ceremony and have a layer of colorfulness to slip on for the reception!  Genius!  Two dresses in one!  I doubt that will happen but I can still dream right? 

I found these gorgeous modern Hanbok designs today from this Site. This is what is inspiring me right now.

This Last picture is of someone else's modern Hanbok from their wedding and I love the rainbow color choices.  Ideally I want to use something similar in colors.  Usually it's the sleeves of the jacket (jeogori) that are decorated in a rainbow pattern and the dress itself is one plain bold color.

Biting the bullet

So after I tried on dresses at both Big Rock Little Rooster and Girls in White Dresses and I haven't seen anything I am absolutely in love with. So I was super inspired last night and started to drape some ideas out. I'd been doing a little price checking here and there on Fabrics but last night just hit me. I need to make my own dress end of story.
So here begins my journey I haven't worked with boning in over a year and even it was cheap rigilene. I'm going to have to go balls to the walls and get some spiral steel boing and make the casing. Luckily I had some left over netting under skirts from when I worked as a prom dress seamstress so I don't have to worry about making or buying any of that.
Here is what I started.

I'm thinking 100% silk Duchess Satin for the body base with a spiral steel boning for support

On top of it layers of silk organza mixed with Tulle. I would like to find a supply for a natural fiber/silk tulle it possible. I don't care if the underskirt is poly for support since I already have that.
Severe Sweetheart with pleated shaping and I want to let the layered pleats be long so that they fall down on top of the skirt. I also like the way the edging on the grey empahsis' the pleats so I think I will do something similar for the finished product.

I like the play that this Vivienne Westwood dress has.  I am especially going to steal that double zipper Idea on it, which I have actually seen on several dresses I tried on.

Dress Attempt #1

So lucky for me Andy is super supportive of me just buying a dress instead of making one.  I feel like it will be too much stress on me to make my wedding dress and my reception dress.  It's bad luck anyways for the Bride to make her own dress or so I hear.  As long as I can find a dress under $1000.00 which so far hasn't been a problem since I am looking for things more plain and with no beading or emblishments at all.

I went with Brook and Steph and my Mom to Wendy's Bridal in Dublin and tried on a bunch.  These were the top two numbers in my mind.

This is an all lace deal in Champagne.  I liked it much more then I thought I would.  I was afraid it would look too old fashioned but it was actually quite nice.

Then this huge ass Tulle Ballroom.  Which I really liked and happened to be the first one I tried on.  I thought the ballgown would be too much on me but I actually really really liked it.  I like also the Tulle skirt it is very light and airy.  The belt is optional so I would go without IF that were the dress.  I have only just begun.

This Dress I would love to try on but the closest dealer is in Cinci it looks like or I can go to Henri's in Minerva and I MIGHT get a discount since I used to work for them.

I also made an appointment to try on dresses at Girls in White Dresses at the Beginning of next month so my Maid of Honor can be here from Chicago and get her opinions.

So Far sweetheart neckline looks the best on me.  I like th Ballroom skirt,  I'm not a fan of the mermaid waisted bodice.  And still no beading or embellishments.  I'd rather adorn with jewelry.

Tradition meets Alternative

I've been pondering and playing with ideas for my own wedding dress now....

My friend Larissa of Wilde Hunt Corsetry has got my back on a killer Piece that she is going to create for me.  It is going to be an underbust leather corset with her signature applique work.  I can't wait to get started on this.  The problem is that I need to find a dress that will suit my height and preferably not strapless.  I might change my mind and make an overbust but this is still so early on.  What I really need to do is go and try on a slew of dresses. 

Most likely I am going to either end up making or at least designing my own dress.  I know I want some HUGE organza something on one shoulder trailing down.  Also this is most likely not the dress I will be wearing the entire day.  I am thinking of doing a more casual costume change for the reception into a modernized Korean hanbok.