18. Last Muslin Fitting!

Well, we had our last muslin fitting today. Susan came over around 1:30 pm, with her friend Angie and Angie's 2-year-old daughter. The skirt had been fitting well for a while - the real focus of my recent fine tuning has been the bodice. The other big thing that we hadn't resolved was the length, because she hadn't selected her shoes yet.

She finally had some time to go shoe shopping and was able to find a pair that she liked. They are mostly gold and are very dressed-up and fancy looking. I also had a pair (purchased in 1999 for a turn-of-the-millennium New Year's Eve party) that I thought would look good with the dress. They are a bit more subdued, covered in white fabric that matches the dress nicely. The heights were quite similar, and we could come up with pros and cons for each pair, so I suggested she wear each pair around for a while and then choose based on comfort. (I'm not a big shoe person - you can probably tell from that silly advice...)

Regardless of which pair she chooses, it looks like I can trim 4 inches off the pattern pieces and be left with enough for a narrow hem.

As for the bodice, despite taking in almost 4 inches around the bodice-skirt seam (based on our last fitting), it was still a little bit too big! How can that have happened? Clearly, Susan is sneaking around behind my back losing weight! The nerve! This has got to stop! ;)

Actually, most of that extra room was across the top of the bodice, not at the bodice-skirt seam, and I had not made any adjustments up there, so I guess this isn't completely unbelievable... Although it still astounds and aggravates me that I used Susan's measurements and the table on the back of the pattern to pick the size(s) to cut, and I'm now sewing at least 2 sizes smaller on the bodice (and 1 size smaller at the hips). What was the purpose of that table again?

In any event, the adjustments are small enough (and the wedding date close enough) that I've decided to mark them on the muslin pieces, but move on to working with the real fabric. So, today was our last muslin fitting. :)

Angie was a great help! I was so glad that she came. In addition to helping me pin in the necessary adjustments, she encouraged Susan to move around the room, sit down and stand up, etc. Even Angie's daughter helped - running over to give Susan a hug (so that Susan could lean down and pick up a squirmy 2-year-old in the dress) over and over again. Those mini-experiments helped give us all confidence that the fit was going to work and there wouldn't be any "wardrobe malfunctions".

Now to the part that I've been putting off talking about - the undergarment situation. I have lots of information about how to make a kind of corset that is built right into the dress - including detailed instructions generously provided by a professional on the PatternReview website (click here).

But despite several attempts, I just can't seem to get a fit that provides the same shaping and support as Susan's strapless bra. And the bra fits under the dress... The only bit I'm wondering about is whether or not there will be a small ridge visible through the fabric the marks the top of the bra. It does show with the muslin. But the silk is thicker, and there will be boning in it, and it will be covered with lace that has a lot of detail in it...

In the end, I think we all pretty much agreed that the small negative of the ridge (which may not even show in the real dress) doesn't compare to the large positive of the nice shape that it gives her. So we are going to go with that strapless bra.

As long as I'm admitting this, I might as well admit my other big "sin" - I'm not underling the dress. This was another difficult decision. On one hand, I know about all the benefits of underlining. On the other hand, the silk satin will hold the folds by itself, and I don't have any real experience underlining (I don't think 2 half-size garments in an online class really counts as much experience, do you?) - so this is something that I could easily mess up. (Don't believe me? Read some of my earlier posts to see the things I've already managed to mess up!)

So, bottom line - there's a reason that professionals charge thousands of dollars for custom wedding dresses, and I am not a professional. Susan is not getting a couture gown - she is getting a dress made with love by a friend. Luckily, that means more to Susan than a "couture" rating... ;)

17. We Got It!

For the month of December, as planned, Susan and I stopped into the Sewing Studio Fabric Superstore about once a week to keep an eye on her fabric. Instead of staying up to watch the ball drop, I was in bed by 10 pm on New Year's Eve - all in preparation for: The New Year's Day Sale! On January 1st, I got up at 5 am and was at the store by 6:30 am. I had been hoping to be first in line, but one woman actually beat me - by about 5 minutes. Another woman arrived about 5 minutes later and the 3 of us visited companionably, sitting on our folding chairs in front of the store for about 30 minutes before anyone else showed up. Then, slowly but surely, people starting trickling up to join the line. Susan joined me around 8 am and by the time the store opened, at 9 am, we estimated that there were around 40 people in line.

I had a list with all of our selections (including lining, button loops and 50 little pearl buttons!) and we divided up the list ahead of time, with plans to grab our respective bolts and meet at the cutting counter. Scotti (the person who had been helping us all this time) saw us at the front of the line and so he had the silk satin and lace out and waiting for us as we came in the door! I'm pretty sure that those were 2 of the first pieces of fabric cut that day.

The store had run out of one thing - the lining that we had picked - Ambiance Bemberg rayon. Luckily that's commonly available and I was able to order the exact color we wanted on the Internet that same day. (It's already arrived.) I had a bit of difficulty finding the golden fabric for the godet, but Susan was able to pick out the right bolt from across the room. We were out of the store by 9:30! Pretty amazing!

It's very difficult to get a photograph that accurately reflects the colors, especially the just-off white of the silk satin, but here goes my best effort. The first shot shows the silk satin for the main dress and the gold (polyester) satin for the godet with the champagne lace on top of it.

This second shot shows the silk satin with the champagne lace laid on top, as we have planned for the bodice.

The colors aren't perfectly represented, but the fabrics really look beautiful together and using the same lace for the bodice and godet really makes the whole thing come together.

We're scheduled for our final muslin fitting next Sunday (Jan. 13th) and then... Then I have to find the nerve to cut into the most beautiful (and most expensive!) fabric that I have ever touched in my whole life... ;)

16. Fabric Shopping!

(Let down alert – no photos yet. Sorry…)

While Susan and I have both been sewing for several years, neither one of us has really ventured into fine fabrics. I mostly stick with cotton prints and flannels, although I have used some knits, linens and bottom-weights. But dupioni silk? Not me…

Thus I think that, at first, we were both a bit overwhelmed by the task of selecting fabric for her dress. I felt like I didn’t even know the set of options that we had to choose from, which was unnerving. Luckily, the instructor from one of the online classes I took at www.patternreview.com, Sarah Veblen, graciously gave me advice via email and even sent me a swatch of the silk satin that she used to make her daughter’s wedding dress. (If you want to see an incredible creation, check out the wedding photos on Sarah’s website: http://www.sarahveblen.com.)

There is, of course, lots of good advice on the pattern review web site, including information about online shops for fine fabrics. And for people with a little bit of experience working with fine fabrics, I think that this is probably an excellent option. But in the end, for us, I think that the brick and mortar store experience was a necessity. We needed to see and touch bolts of fabric side by side – to unroll them on a cutting table and overlay bolts of lace – we just didn’t have enough knowledge in our heads to fill in the details that are missing from web site words and pictures and little swatches that come in the mail…

Luckily, there is a great fabric store in Orlando, The Sewing Studio Fabric Superstore (http://www.sewing.net), that has a large bridal section. A friend at work told me about it, and Susan and I visited it last Tuesday night (our usual rock climbing night.) Even that experience would have been overwhelming, if it wasn’t for the assistance of one of the employees, a knowledgeable young man named Scotti. He encouraged us to unroll bolts of fabric and lace on the cutting table and mix and match to our hearts’ content.

Susan had brought the pattern envelope and her cardstock cut-out of the dress outline. Scotti was able to give us advice about the level of firmness of the various fabrics and how well they matched the requirements of our pattern. (For example, too soft of a fabric wouldn’t hold the [horizontal] pleats in the front of the dress.) We used the cardstock cut-out to help visualize the possible combinations of fabrics and laces distributed across the bodice, body and godet. I can’t say enough about how patient, encouraging, and technically helpful he was!

And the evening was a success! We selected a rich, gorgeous, just-off-white silk satin for the dress, a burnished gold satin for the godet, and the most heart-stoppingly beautiful champagne colored lace to overlay the bodice and the godet. The lace has a distinct top and bottom. Along the bottom there are flowered vines growing upwards. The bottom is the most heavily patterned area of the lace, and the embellishments become sparser the higher up you go. I’ll align the bottom of the lace with the bottom of the godet, so that the flowered vines grow up from the bottom of the dress. I’ll use less detailed pieces of lace (from higher up) to overlay the bodice.

We debated using the gold satin for the bodice as well, but recalled my friend Dorothy’s advice, that adding this distinctive horizontal line under the bust might make Susan look shorter. So, Susan decided to leave the bodice in the same fabric as the rest of the dress, but use the lace overlay to connect it with the godet, so that the godet doesn’t jump out like this bit that is out of place from the rest of the dress. The matching lace should tie everything together nicely.

We also debated not using the gold satin at all, and just highlighting the godet (and/or the bodice) with the lace. That would have been beautiful, but perhaps more traditional. The combination that Susan decided on is, I think, uniquely her. While it will still clearly be a wedding dress, her personality and her voice will sing out in this dress. Just wait until you see it! :)

And that, of course, gets us to the question of time and schedule. Originally we had planned to go back and buy the fabric on Saturday. But it turns out that this store has a huge sale on New Year’s Day – EVERYTHING in the store (including the lace) is 40% off! We’re going to keep a close eye on Susan’s selections – stopping in every week in December to make sure that they aren’t running low on anything. (In fact, I’m going tomorrow night.) I’m not going to let these choices slip away from us, but, if everything goes well, I’ll make the purchases on January 1st, 2008.