A Fairytale Request

Inspiration Dress

A year ago, I sat in a coffee shop across from a bride-to-be bubbling with all kinds of ideas for a dress she wanted me to make for her.  I sat sipping and listening while trying to tamp down my excitement of knowing a dream of mine was about to become reality. It's an amazing feeling knowing you are living a dream while you're in the moment, not after the fact, but while you're smack dab in the middle of it. Before I retell my dressmaking fairytale, I'd like to start with a thank you to a sweet bride-to-be for the leap of faith she took exactly one year ago today.

As with all things I make, I begin with a picture.  So, we started picking apart the dress in the picture, listing the things she liked and the things she didn't.  She loved the style but wanted to change the color, add satin buttons up the back zipper and change the neckline a bit. I've learned never to assume I know what someone is going to say and this was one of those times, the first of a few times during the process, all of which turned out to be perfect choices.  The color? Grey.

David Tutera Line, who knew?
I love his show, his fabrics are beautiful

I ordered a few samples online but nothing seemed like the right shade.  One day I was in a local fabric store and to my surprise, there it was..grey/silver stretch taffeta - Perfect.  It had texture, it was just enough grey without being too drab.  I bought it, hoping it was what the bride had in mind. My only concern was the stretch of the fabric but I would deal with that later.  For now, I had the fabric and would show the bride at her muslin pattern fitting a few weeks later.


I envy those who can make garments with no patterns, I am not one of those gifted individuals. I need to start with a pattern and alter it until it's what I want.  For this dress, I used used Vogue pattern V1032 for the skirt, Vogue pattern V8997 for the bodice and Burda style pattern #6869 for the lace sleeve. The two Vogue patterns had the same line in the bodice front which we (the bride and me) later decided looked better as straight across instead of coming up into a "V" shape at the center. The neckline in Vogue pattern V8997 was more what the bride to be wanted, less plunging than the one in the inspiration dress.

Vogue Pattern V1032, used
for the skirt and train

Vogue Pattern V8997, used
for the bodice

Burda Style pattern #6869,
used for the lace sleeve

 It took some time to find the lace for the overlay and sleeves.  I really liked the lace on the original dress and wanted to find something similar. The detail I liked most were the flowers so that's what I started looking for.

Inspiration Dress

 

Lace sample ordered from
 "LaceNTrim" on Etsy

I needed to think about lining well, something more along the lines of backing, underlining. The lace for the sleeves and overlay was very delicate and my concern were tears and runs happening after the dress was together.  The taffeta had a lot of stretch and I didn't want the dress to lose any of its shape because of the stretch.  I decided to use a soft tulle to back the sleeves and overlay pieces, the tulle and lace would act as one piece.

Tulle stitched to the lace pieces for the sleeves
and all dress sections

For the taffeta I decided to use an underlining. It would "back" the taffeta, be sandwiched in between the taffeta and the dressing lining. The pros to using underlining are many - all marks can be made on the underlining instead of the taffeta, it would add stability, hide raw edges, hemline can be stitched to the underlining instead of the fabric creating a true invisible stitch from the outside. I LOVE underlining, LOVE IT.

I chose to use a lightweight cotton for the underlining because I wanted something breathable.

These are pieces for the right side bodice front
(left to right- lining, underlining, taffeta/lace)
the middle piece, underlining, will be stitched to the wrong side of the taffeta
piece (to its left). In this picture, the taffeta already has the lace overlay basted to it.
The lining will be added last after the entire bodice is sewn together.

Two of the last major details to think about were the lace appliques and the eyelash trim along the skirt and train edge. I wanted a better look at the inspiration dress than I was getting from the picture so I went to the bridal store and looked at the dress and took some notes. I counted the buttons along the sleeve edges, looked at the detail of the appliques and their placement on the dress. It helped me because I knew she liked the look of the dress and placing the appliques in the wrong places or adding too many could change what she liked about the dress. 

When I began my search, I was looking for beaded appliques.  The ones I was finding were either heavily beaded or had too much of the wrong beading.  I decided I was going to do the beading myself. That made the search easier and I found what I was looking for at "Zoey's Story"on Etsy.

Corded Alencon Lace applique for the
of the skirt train

Corded Alencon Lace applique
 for bodice

The detail along the bottom skirt/train edge on the inspiration dress was gorgeous.  At first glance, it looked like just the edge of the lace overlay but as I looked closer it was more.  It was an added piece, that complimented the dress perfectly - corded flowers similar to the appliques with a scalloped eyelash edge.  I wanted that for this dress.  

I found two that would work, one better than the other - price was making the decision hard for me.  The price of the one I really wanted was a bit out of our budget but it was perfect.  In the end, I went with that one, bought less than I needed because it was a mirror edge, I could cut right down the center and have the amount I needed.  It would be narrower than the trim on the inspiration dress but it would work. 

Usually my posts are "start to end" photos in one posting but for this dress, I'm writing a little differently.  Maybe because I want a record of my dream, from start to finish so when I look back I know it actually happened or maybe it's hoping whoever reads my post will learn about what goes into a finished product, something not factory produced. This dress was never about making money for me, so that will never be discussed.  When I first started sewing for people years ago, my main goal was to create something beautiful within a workable budget and that is still my goal today with each request I receive. My first question is always, "what is your budget?" And my second, "when would you like to get started?"