The Wedding Dress -- The Skirt is Finished!

After what seems like miles and miles of hand sewing, the skirt is done. I wish I could show you a more complete picture, but you know DD's rule! Can't give too much away. . .

On to the bodice and Happy Sewing!

The Wedding Dress -- Sometimes Tack(y) is Good!

I got a lot of work done on the dress. I finished hand picking the skirt's zipper and sewed the skirt lining in at the top creating the plain skirt waist that DD wants.

At the present time, I have only basted the waist line, but I plan to set it with a couple of stitches in each seam and a good press.

I wanted to make sure that the lining does not shift around and get twisted up so I used a couture finishing technique called a French Tack or a Swing Tack. I found a lovely video that was made by my couture hero, Susan Khalji. It is a great lesson on how to do this technique properly.

Here is my tack! I think it looks great. I put one in every seam  -- some at the mid point and some closer to the hem.

I then pinned the trim around the hemline of the dress. That took forever! Now I am beginning to sew the trim on. When I am done with that I will finish sewing the lining to the hem and the skirt will be done.

Still so much work to be done.

Happy sewing.

The Wedding Dress - Bling from Turkey and a Horse Hair Hem

The bling finally arrived from Turkey. I was beginning to get worried but it still arrived before I am even ready for it. Again, this is just a small part of the actual design -- DD won't let me show the whole thing. Cannot spoil the groom's first glimpse!

This weekend I put the horse hair in the hem of the skirt. First, I pinned up the bottom where I wanted the hem, then I took out just a couple of pins at a time leaving just enough room to slip the horsehair into the hem.

I then heavily pinned the hem to keep the horse hair tight against the bottom of the hem.

After the entire hemline was completed, I basted in the horse hair and removed the pins.

That allowed me to trim back the edge of the hem to the top of the horse hair. I will use the same catch stitch that I used for the seams to finish the hem.

Of course, all of this work will soon be hidden behind the lining of the ivory dupioni. So much work, and no one will ever see it again!

Happy hemming!

The Wedding Dress -- Quick Update with Photo

I just saw online that the applique has finally made it out of Istanbul and into a New Jersey US Postal Service Facility! Thankfully, it should be here sometime next week. The above trim made it all the way from China last week and is much prettier in person than in the photo above.

I should be done tacking all of the inside seams down on the dress soon. Then I can begin on putting in the lining and applying the sparkles! The last thing will be the fluffy over skirt.

Happy sewing!

The Wedding Dress -- Notes to Self

While I continue to work on tacking down the seemingly unending miles of seams, my mind keeps running ahead to the ruffled overskirt. The more I think about it, to get the look that DD wants I can't use chiffon as I first thought. It isn't stiff enough to have the bounce and body that she wants. So I think that I am going to be using organza.

I have received some of the sparkly trim for the dress. Unfortunately part of it is sitting in a postal facility somewhere in Turkey and I am beginning to get nervous!

Happy Sewing!