socherryknits

Went to Mandors yesterday to buy all the extra bits to go with the duchess satin for the practice dress. Couldn't decide between iron-on interfacing for the bodice, or sew-on interfacing. Decided to go for my mum's genius idea of making half the bodice in one interfacing and half in the other to see which I prefer. For the same reason I bought half the boning in satin-covered and half in cotton-covered for the bodice. Mum also thinks that with my (severely pear-shaped) body shape, it would make a better fit if the zip at the back is replaced with a lace-up back instead. Searched Mandors, Remnant Kings and John Lewis for Rouleau loops with no joy. Mandors had one with little elasticated loops for those wee buttons, but we need ones strong enough to hold the weight of the dress and hold me in when it's laced up. This place makes them with your own satin and is UK-based, so might be an option. My mum's confident she can make these though. I also received all my matt satin...

OK - coming up with a schedule to keep on track with, so I can get this dress done by the end of May, and leave myself a fortnight to deal with all the other wedding preparations. February Buy all the final fabric, buttons and duplicate zips, boning etc. March Finish fittings on practice fabric. Take apart and remake with Duchess Satin kindly donated by Paula's mum, which is 115cm wide, by 7m. This should be enough to make 2nd practice dress, which will include zip and boning. Refittings as necc. April - May Make dress proper

This post contains all the research and reading I've been doing, as I have never made a dress before, let alone a wedding dress. Am I foolhardy? Well, my mum made her dress, my friend's mum used to make wedding dresses for a living, and I've got confidence! So let's see how this plays out... First off, the wedding dress bible; Susan Khalje's "Bridal Couture: Fine Sewing Techniques for Wedding Gowns and Evening Wear". Although out of print (I borrowed a copy from my library), this can now be bought on CD here , and I would say it's an essential purchase. Tips I've learned from here include: what kind of underlining to use, how different fabrics work together, how to shape and fit all aspects, and most importantly for me, how lace can be invisibly seamed and worked with. It includes different types of bustles, and all aspects of construction. And other stuff I've found online that might help with making the dress [this is going to be continually ...

I've decided to keep an update of the making of the wedding dress So the dress pattern is as above and is linked  here  (Butterick B5325) This is to try and make it match the dress below, which my mum and I saw and I tried on, in a boutique, but couldn't stretch to the £2000-odd quid it would have cost. The dress is much more a-line than this - the model has it pinned in a fishtail for some reason. It has an add-on one-shoulder lace bolero, but I think I'll handsew this to the dress itself, for some extra 'hold', as I don't have much on top, so the teeny bodice already has its work cut out holding up all that skirt fabric. It is a delicate chantilly lace with added appliques in ivory over an ivory satin. And so far I've done the following: 1. Laid out the practice fabric in the corridor at work - all 9 metres of it! 2. Ordered some expensive lace, waited a month for it, only to have the supplier sell it to Australia and tell me that there won't be more u...