Lace Application
I designed this couture gown for my daughter in law. We started with a muslin for the inner corselet, and after fitting this with steel boning we move on to the gown muslin. She wanted a longer train and chocolate added to the gown. After some considerations for the strapless look, I felt that the chocolate would work best by banding the top of her gown and later decided to add this banding to the bottom to give dimension and play up the scollops of the alencon lace. The alencon lace came on a large roll and worked beautifully by cutting along the scollops so that they overlapped the chocolate band. The top contrast banding only required silk organza for interlining, but the bottom contrasting band was not only interlined with silk organza, it was underlined with the satin dress fabric to add weight. This added just enough drag to allow the train to fall behind and pull perfectly. All lace was hand applied using the fell stitch and sculpted to enhance the bodice and waste. The lace was minimal on the bottom chocolate banded sides, and was again sculpted up in the front and on the back train. The entire body of the dress was interlined with silk organza and lined with a satin lining. I enjoyed every minute of this process and have a full library on a cd of the entire process. I really didn’t want this to project to come to an end, as it was such a pleasure.
Superb. An absolutely wonderful design and execution. WOW!
The dress is stunning. I am in the process of making my daughters wedding dress and your detail comments about the lining and how you worked with the lace bodice were just what I was looking for. Wish you were my neighbor. Lucky daughter-in-law.
Hey MJGreen!
WOW! This is gorgeous!!!
This is very similar to what I have in mind for a design for my wedding gown! I'm going to use McCalls 4776 pattern as a guide and then modify to my liking.
Where did you get your fabric and lace?
I planning on making a trip to the garment district in NYC to browse and buy the dress fabric.
Is the corselet built into the dress?
Did you use crinoline to add any body?
So much to do before the big day!!
I cut the muslin this coming weekend! :)
your judicious use of chocolate gives this dress an extra pop. Very subtle but very effective!
Thank you for your kind comments. This was truly a delight and my daughter in law was so patient with the many fittings. All the fabrics & lace were from G-Street Fabrics in Rockville, MD. I order the silk organza by the bolt as I use this quite a lot. The corselette was made separately from white muslin using steel boning. The closures were hook & eyes that also came from G-Street. These heavy duty closures ensure a snug fit and come ready to sew in the garment. The dress literally hangs off of the corselette, allowing it to flow beautifully. Hope this helps.
Regards,
Jo Green
Love your daughter-in-law's wedding dress. You are quite the seamstress! I'm making a dress for my daughter. The lace you selected would be beautiful. Where did you get it and what is the design called? Does it have "little hairs" at the top of the scallops? There's nothing here where I live and I'm getting panicky.
Pat