The Wedding Dress -- It's a Dress Rehearsal, Not Just Practice

This weekend was productive and unproductive -- all at the same time. I got the entire bodice put together and then took the whole thing apart again. There were two problems. First, the bodice did not fit Monica and since Monica is set to the approximate size of DD, the bodice would not fit DD. The bodice was approximately 1 to 2 inches too big all the way around at every measurement. I can only guess that since the bodice is cut on the bias and I washed the fabric first; that as I handled it, the muslin stretched back out a little. It is cotton and cotton will stretch a little -- kind of like how blue jeans always fit looser a couple of hours after you put them on. Secondly, I disliked how the gathers at the sides looked -- uneven and sloppy. So that meant that I had to adjust all of the pattern pieces for size and re-do the gathering.

I took most of the pieces apart, removed all of the old gathering stitches from the front and back drape pieces, and ironed everything carefully. Then using the marks that I made while Monica was wearing the bodice, I redrew some of the seam lines on both the base and the drape pieces using my new fashion ruler.

After redrawing the seam lines, I restitched all of the gathering lines in triplicate. (Note the stitching line on the left is the seam line.) This time, I used a method that I found on Sew Much Good. This method does not lengthen the stitch at all, but loosens the upper tension allowing the bottom thread to be pulled -- gathering the fabric. This method seemed to work much better for me. I got a much more even gather than I did before.

I then hand basted the gathered drape onto the base fabric following the sewn seam line. I like the result of this much better (see picture at the top of the page). I keep forgetting that the muslin is not just a practice dress, but a dress rehearsal dress. Ask anyone who has performed -- there is a difference. Therefore, I need to be as meticulous with this one as I will be with the real one.

For now, I have a lot of basting left to do. As soon as I have pictures of a completed bodice, you'll be the first to see!

Happy Basting!