Do the Bustle!

Our last big task on our last day of dress making was to do the bustle. As usual, this proved to be more complicated and more time consuming than we imagined.

I took out Mom's wedding dress that I had worn and we examined how the bustle was created on that dress. It actually looked quite simple!  Three buttons, three loops, hidden by a layer of lace. This should be a snap!

We began with a run to Jo Ann's for buttons and something to make hanger straps and button looping out of. We chose some buttons that look pearly from the top, but have a good sturdy post to hang a loop off of.

Jenny applying the loops

Back at home, we put Stephanie into the dress. When digging out my wedding dress, I found a hoop skirt  I had worn underneath it. I suggested she try the dress on with the hoop underneath to see how that looked. It was amazing. The hoop allows the dress to hang even better. So, hoop it is.

Bustle in progress

With her in the dress, we worked on creating the bustle. The gown under the lace was relatively easy to bustle. The lace over skirt was a bit more complicated. With the pick-ups of flowers, the hem isn't even. The flowers also make it tricky for where to put a bustle, and we wanted the lace to look pretty when bustled.

We worked for about an hour with her in the dress, and then she had to run off and do other wedding related stuff, so we were left to try to work it out on our own. We put on the hanger straps so we could hang the dress while working on the bustle.  The only hanging place available was the curtain rod in the living room window.

Dress hanging in the window

We spent a couple hours on the lace over skirt's bustle. One concern we had was how to disguise the location of the buttons. After a bit of discussion and consultation, we determined we could use the extra flower petals and make the buttons into flowers. This worked with some of the buttons, but some of them are already close to flowers. They will have to stand on their own.

Next we needed to make the loops. It was difficult to know how big--or in this case, how small--the loops should be. They needed to be big enough to fit over the button but snug enough to stay on when she moves around. Once again, not as simple as it might appear. We consulted YouTube, but didn't get much help on these matters, and so were left to figure it out as we went.

In the meantime, the bride and groom arrived back at home and with the groom driving, Stephanie spotted the wedding dress in the window. They had not pulled to a complete stop when Stephanie threw her hand over Thomas's eyes to prevent him from seeing the dress. She has her priorities straight!

It was nearing five o'clock before we had the bustle done. We had positioned, sewn, removed, and repositioned flowers and loops and buttons for nearly eight hours--with lunch and a few other small dress-related tasks thrown in. Jenny tacked on the ruching panel and it looks much better now.

The bustle

But in the end, it was finally the end!  There were tears of joy and a bit of sadness that the project was over. A toast to our success, and then Jenny was on her way home to see her much neglected husband.

We decided we should have a party to celebrate the completion of the dress. Saturday, August 4th looks good. Oh, and I guess there's a wedding, then, too.

A Wedding Dress Takes Shape at Last

Jenny makes the ribbon

It was another long day of sewing for the team wedding dress. We began at 9 AM, taking advantage of the fact that the groom was off on an errand at least until 2 PM. We began by adding snaps to the back of the gown since they would hold it better than the hook and eye closures. This was not just sew them on and be done with it. There seems to be a theme of position, sew it on, remove, reposition, resew...

We discussed the need to cover the stitching, and whether to go back to the store to explore options when Jenny found some beautiful pearly colored leaf shaped buttons to sew over the top.

Once that was done, we needed to work on the ruching panel. With Stephanie in the dress, we discussed our options for what to use for the ribbon to attach the panel. Everything was brought out and considered, but in the end, we decided to make our own. Jenny cut ribbon out of the dupioni silk for me to sew together to make a bow and we discussed how to attach these to the panel.

Then it was time to attach the pick-ups and the flowers. Stephanie perched atop a footstool so we could work on the train. We began tacking up the dress in places and then attaching the flowers Jenny so carefully made. We spent time working on the shape of the train, while Stephanie patiently waited, not able to see what we were discussing.

Jenny sewing on the flowers

Flower close up

Once the back was finished, we set to work on the front. Now we allowed her to step into the shoes she will be wearing and off the stool so we could adjust the height of the gown. There were more pick-ups and flowers to attach on the front, and Stephanie stood for nearly two hours during the process!

Front with flowers

Then, it was back to working on the ruching panel. One problem was how to sew the ribbon on to the panel. We could hand sew it, but that would take time. I found a decorative ivy stitch on my machine and tested it out. Voila! A perfect way to sew the pieces together.

Then, a brilliant idea or maybe an obsessive compulsion took over, and I decided to sew the hem on the train with that decorative stitch. This added another couple hours onto the work, but I think it was worth it.

Jenny was working on the straps when I decided to sew the hem, so she set to work on the headband. Long after I had caved to exhaustion, she was still hand sewing the pearls on the headband!

Jenny making the headband

Adding the ivy stitch to the hem

We have to finish the straps, sew dress hanging loops, figure out how to attach the bustle, and iron the dress. That really seems like it!

The Time for Losing Hope Has Long Since Passed

Tuesday was another long day of sewing on the dress. The hand sewing takes much longer, and there are often times when only one person can be working on the dress, so it slows the process down quite a bit. We worked for ten hours, mostly non-stop.

There were lots of little details to be worked out!

We found ourselves stumped once again and turned to our couture books for guidance, and made one phone call to our mother, an experienced seamstress, as well. Teresa provided us with a dramatic reading from the couture book while Jenny acted out the instructions to help us understand them better. Once we understood what was needed, we began sewing with a new energy. It really is just a matter of time!

Teresa's dramatic reading of the couture book

We worked at sewing hook and eye closures on the dress. These little beasties are difficult to sew on, especially when it is important they not be seen. They are small, difficult to hold in place when sewing, and tricky to position correctly. It took several attempts just to get two of them in place, and more than one pricked finger in the process.

Hooks and eyes and buttons

Jenny never stops sewing!

We needed to reposition a couple buttons to make sure everything was straight. We gave up on putting more hook and eye closures on and I went out and bought snaps while Jenny continued sewing. We should have bought the alcohol version of snaps as well. Jenny was a bit disappointed when I returned with only metal snaps for sewing.

We sewed the lining down to the dress to make it less likely to pull up and reinforced a few seams.

At the end of the evening, we began looking at how to do the pick-ups on the dress. We used the red clips to hold the dress up in various places to see how it will look. It was difficult because with Stephanie in the dress, she couldn't see what we were doing, so we had to take quick photos and show her our plans off the camera. I'm sure there will be a bit of adjusting to do when we get that far.

Pick-up positioning

It sounds like we don't have much to do: the pick-ups, the ruching, the snaps (and a couple more hooks and eyes), but it is amazing how long each step can take. By 8 o'clock, we'd been working for 10 hours, and so decided to pack it up for another day.

What Sort of Puckery Is This?

Today's sewing marathon began quite well. We sent Thomas down to his cave to avoid seeing the dress, and got to work on the train.

Thomas in his man cave

We found some lace to put on the train to cover up the seam and it looks like it was meant to be there all the time. This lace was something we'd bought much earlier and then changed our minds about using, then tried to find different ways to use. We had thought about putting on the lining, putting it on the straps, putting around vases, and then put it away all together. It was resurrected today and put to good use.
 

Flowers on the train

Then, we got back to the button looping. It all seemed so easy, so nearly in hand! We had sewn the looping on last time we'd worked on the dress. We wanted to see if it was laid out correctly, so Steph got into the dress for us to see.

And then we found a pucker. The annoying pucker was due to the lace over-skirt not matching up quite right. It was a little difference, but led to a large pucker down the train.

Sewing on the buttons

We thought maybe all we needed to rip out was a little of the looping over the skirt, but that annoying pucker would not go away, so Jenny was forced to take it off all the way down. Once that was resewn, it was time to put the buttons on. Still relatively early, we could get this done with daylight to spare.

Daylight spared no one, however. The buttons proved trickier than we'd expected. We sewed, removed, repositioned, resewed, removed, repositioned, and resewed till after 8 PM. One problem was that puckers would appear if the buttons were not positioned exactly right.

Another unexpected problem was that we had more loops for buttons than buttons; eight more, in fact. However, we didn't notice this deficiency until we'd sewn on several buttons. I was sewing on one end, Jenny on the other. We'd meet in the middle of the looping. Or not.

With two buttons left, I went looking for the missing eight, and realized we were short. This meant removing eight of the ones we'd already sewn and moving them up to the gap in the middle. Sewing on each button was more time consuming than it would seem. Finally they were all sewn on. We will wait until tomorrow to see if we placed them all correctly, or if we need to remove, reposition, and resew any.

Rest Day Recap

To continue the theme of the Tour de France for just one more post, since today is a rest day on the Tour, I thought I'd recap our stages of the wedding dress project.

Stage 1: We made Stephanie's Mini-me. Jenny found a tutorial blog and sent us a link. We used an old t-shirt and paper tape that we bought at Staples. This dress form proved immensely helpful in the project.

The Mini-Steph

Stage 2: Stephanie and I went pattern shopping. She also drew a pattern of the dress for us to work from. We ended up with four patterns, only two of them would come in handy in the end. We also looked at fabrics and found ivory bridal silk dupioni that looked lovely. At $25 a yard, I would wait for a coupon to buy it.

The Main Pattern

Stage 3: Stephanie was back in California, and I set to work making muslin number 1. I found some cheap polyester fabric in ivory, and set to work making the complicated top from one of the patterns. We still had no idea what we wanted to do with the back, so I made crisscross straps and a ribbon. I sent her a picture of the dress, and she didn't burst into tears, so that was a good start.

First Fake Dress

Stage 4: Fake dress number 2: We had changed the pattern, and I wasn't sure how all of it would work together, so we bought some fabric closer in stiffness to the dupioni we planned to use. The stuff was nasty though. It feels like vinyl.

Second Fake Dress

Stage 5: We found that working at school was the best solution to our space issue. The lighting was good, the tables amazingly helpful. We could lay out all the fabric to cut it without trouble. The day had come to cut out the actual pattern pieces. This is difficult to do while holding your breath, but we managed.

Let the Cutting Begin!

Stage 6: We began piecing the dress together. Piecing, sewing, ripping, resewing, re-ripping... There was much learning at this stage.

We learned we should have underlined the entire dress because it is nicer to work with. We learned we should inspect every piece of dupioni for runs before we buy it at the store. We learned that the clips we bought were the best investment ever. We learned that it takes many hands holding the fabric while sewing on the machine and that dupioni frays quickly.

Holding the Fabric while Sewing

Stage 7: We moved our work space to my living room with mixed results. The lighting and space to work with are terrible here. We had to set up lights all around the room, and one light provided unwelcome heat to the room in the sweltering summer heat.  Every available space was used for the dress, and it still wasn't enough space.

Stage 8: The dress is pieced together and awaiting final touches. The hardest part of this process is having to put it away still unfinished while we take care of our other obligations.
Stage 9 awaits. We hope to get the finishing touches done in our next get together.

If Phil Liggett Made the Commentary on Our Sewing

 When watching the Tour de France, it is very easy to imagine Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen commentating on our progress.  Phil: "It's amazing to see the dedication in these two women."

Paul: "I agree. You don't see that every day."

Phil: "She's dancing on the sewing machine pedal like an angel."

Jenny sewing on the button looping

Paul: "They're off and running."

Phil: "She's sewing like a woman possessed!"

Then, a clear stoppage in the action as we realize yet again, we've ignored our inner voices and done something we will regret.

Phil: "Oh, no! It looks like a crash! Quite the pile up with mistakes! They really made a mess of that one! Some serious seam ripping is in store! They're going to need to dig deep into their suitcase of courage before this is over."

Paul: "But they've picked themselves up and are right back at it, Phil. These two women never lose heart."

Ripping yet another seam

Later, as our giddiness increased when we got to actually (and finally!) sewing on the button looping, I can hear Phil saying: "They're quite giddy, those two. Look at her dancing around the room with that needle in a most immodest way!"

In some ways, it feels a little like coming full circle to be working on the dress during the Tour. When we found the plans for making the dress form, the couple who demonstrated how to make it were making hers while watching the Tour.

We spent a lot of time working on the button looping and tidying up the scalloped edging on the lace. By the time Jenny had to leave, that was all we had accomplished. We still have the buttons to sew on, hook and eye closures to find and sew, the ruching to figure out, and the pick-ups to apply.

We will get together soon, and hopefully be able to finish our marathon race of sewing.

Marathon of Sewing

Positioning the lace over-skirt

Thursday was a marathon day of sewing on the dress. With the Tour de France in the background, we started the day with Jenny finishing hand sewing the gown's hem. Stephanie and I worked on the construction of the straps in the meantime.

Once the hem was done (beautifully stitched!) We started work on finishing the lace over-skirt. We needed to applique the scallops to the train, and that took quite a bit of doing and redoing. There is so much fabric to work with, and nowhere in the house to lay it all out, it felt impossible to see what we were doing. I found myself wishing we were back in my classroom using the tables--not to mention the lighting in the classroom is ten times better. We manufactured a raised pouf out of a footstool, pillows and the table. This gave us some height to lay out the lace on so we could see what we were doing.

Once we got the scallops figured out, we hand tacked them on just in case they still needed adjusting and we sewed the skirt to the gown. We did get a bit carried away with the length of the train and needed to rethink our design. For a bit, the idea of a cathedral length train seemed like a great one, until we saw Stephanie's expression, and we knew we were taking it a bit too far.

Positioning the handmade straps

This required more redoing, and we had Stephanie in and out of the dress several times to see if the lace was going on correctly, if the length of the train was good, if the shape of the train was good, and if the skirt was in the correct position on the gown.

The straps were positioned and repositioned several times as well.

The dress was closer to done that it has ever been!  All we need to do now is: sew on the button looping and buttons, sew on some hook and eye closures to be extra-double careful, tidy up the scalloped hem, create the ruching and figure out where that goes on and how, tidy up how the straps are sew on, tack down the lining in places, create the pick-ups, sew on the flowers, and create a bustle for the train. Okay, that's still a lot, but it's a lot of little stuff. We are so close! 

Confident that we could do much of it tomorrow, we packed up our sewing and released the groom from captivity in the family room.

Strange Magic

We've got a strange magic working when we work on the wedding dress. With ELO playing in the background, we've kept our spirits up despite the lack of progress we'd hoped to make on Wednesday.

Jenny arrived Wednesday morning and we got to work right away. We sent the groom into hiding in the family room so to avoid any bad luck inducing sightings of the dress.

We got Stephanie into the dress to see what needed to be done to the back and discovered it was too big. What the heck!? In fact, it was exactly the-two-pieces-we'd-worked-so hard-to add-into-the-back too big. Remember how we spent so much time adding those pieces into the back when we tried it on Stephanie's mini-me and it was surprisingly too small? Remember all the stress and worry that the dress wouldn't fit because we'd left out crucial pieces?

With a laugh and a sigh, we set to work taking out the two added back pieces and resizing the back to fit. This highlighted the danger of basing our measurements on Stephanie's mini-me instead of the genuine article. This took much of the morning, and then we headed out to the flower meeting to discuss the wedding flowers--which we will also be making ourselves. We are nothing if not stubborn and tenacious! And maybe optimistic about our own abilities?

There was not as much progress on the dress as we would have liked on Wednesday. But we keep inching along toward our goal.