fitting the bodice

Fitting the Bodice

The first fitting has gone very well. I have made the under lining out of a twill fabric. I love the way the tutu pattern is fitting it is really a well made pattern.

I have some spiral steel boning placed in it for the fitting but they need to be adjusted on the length before I stitch them in. I have stitched Parisian tape to feed the boning down the outside of this layer. The boning will be between the underling and the dress. There is boning on each seam of the bodice and there will also be boning on each side of the closer in the center back. So 9 strips of boning for the total.



As you can see I have it pinned snugly, the gown will fit as a looser dress but the underling will fit very snug. I have heat set bias tape across the top of the bodice and across the bottom edge.

I will be attaching the underskirt to the bottom of this bodice. The underskirt will have the crinoline ruffles attached to this layer which will be the next blog.

I have also hand stitched the cups into the bodice and have cut the lining fabric. I was planning on a china silk or satin for the lining but the bride requested 100% cotton, so cotton it is. I have it cut so now it is just time to sew it together. :)

First mock up

I'll try and get some photos up soon.

Friday my darling daughter came over for the first of many fittings. I had cut out and sewn the tutu bodice pattern in its original state. LOVE it! Then using the pattern as a guide I cut out the 8 panel pieces to more like the cut of the dress. I lengthened it also.

The bodice in the original state fit lovely it is a really great pattern which I enjoyed using. I then pinned the 2nd panels on her to determine exactly where the seam lines should be. After pinning her into to whole thing and making sure it was good and snug. I marked all the seams. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon talking wedding. I had such a wonderful time with her and my youngest daughter Meagan. It is what I dreamt it would be.

After she left, I cut the pieces out of twill fabric to use as the underlining. I carefully cut all the pieces out and shortened my stitch length to 1.5. I then sewed all the pieces together leaving the seams un-trimmed, which at the current time are anywhere between 1 inch to 3 inches.

I will fit it to her tonight before I trim any seams in case I need to make adjustments before applying the bonning.

She tried on the skirt part of my wedding dress and to our delight it was perfect! I had not remembered I wore high heels (she is several inches taller than I). So we will be using this part of my dress as a base for her dress which will have 10 layers of tulle on top of it.

Then came thrilling yet scary part removing the veil. We had to check the placement of the veil and length to find out if the train on the dress was long enough. I am thinking at this it may be just fine, or I may need to add a 5 inch band to it so that the veil will not drag on the carpet. When we opened the veil it was breathtakingly beautiful! It is so lovely and will look so beautiful! And it is wonderful to think that two other happily married brides have worn it before her.

So all in all Friday was a very good day,and we are feeling very blessed.

makingthe first mock up

I am so thrilled the book I ordered "The classical tutu" came in over the holidays and it is everything I had hoped for!

I have constructed the first bodice out of a batiste fabric. I am using the 8 piece bodice pattern from tutu.com. I will be changing the neck line after the first fitting. I would like to see how the pattern fits first before I start fussing with it.

I am off today to go and get muslin as it is on sale at Joanns this week. I will make the full mock up once I have the bodice is fitted. I am planning on making a corselete with pettycoat attached, it will close with hook and eyes. Then I will make the dress and attach the corselet to the dress at the top. I am planning to close the dress with covered buttons and loops. I think I have my mind wrapped around the top of the dress but not 100% sure about the skirt. I think an aline but wondering just how to do it the way I want the finished skirt to look and I am not sure on the train I guess it will depend on how long the bride would like it to be. When it is time to open the veil I am thinking the train needs to be just a little longer as to not put any stress on the veil.

I look forward to the first fitting. My daughter/bride is coming over tomorrow to be fitted. I will post pictures of the fitting.

2nd dress is all cut up!

Well we had a wonderful Christmas and hope you did too. My youngest daughter (age 12) had some friends over last night and they giggled and had fun until 4a.m.The girls were wonderful and a joy to have over as they were quite with the giggles . They are roller blading out side so I thought it would be the perfect time to cut up my dress. This way I couldn't get too lost in memories or thought. So with scissors in hand off I set to remove as much lace as possible leaving something to work with for the other two daughters to have if they so choose. I have left the queen Ann neckline in tact and the tons of ruffles.

The lace I cut from my dress may be enough to go around the bottom of the dress with the train, ummmm maybe but not sure yet. For now I have it safely tucked away until it will be needed.

I am hoping my book on tutus will arrive soon I am very much looking forward to receiving it.I have steel spirel boning and ordered more it should be coming in soon also.

It is time to go and buy muslin for the mock up this will be a great time to use one of my coupons for 40% off! I am thinking of getting 10 yards, I know the whole thing will really only need about 6 yards but that is only counting one bodice and I doubt that is going to happen:). Besides I can always use muslin!

cutting up the first dress

This is the back of both dresses.



Well I did it I cut into the first dress! The wedding gown will have lace applique all over it. So that will take a lot of little lace flowers. I had some lovely satin lace from an Irish step dancing dress my youngest daughter out grew. I love the lace and cut it off the dress and put it away thinking I would use it on another Irish dress, it is the perfect lace for her wedding dress so I have cut out each flower to make into an applique. It took a little time but I cut on it while waiting at dance class and piano lessons and in the evenings while watching t.v. and before I knew it all the flowers had been cut out.


Next is the dresses! Those dresses that each Mother~ the Mother of the Bride and the Mother of the Groom wore on their special day. It was different cutting up one of these. I thought about the special day for each bride, the beginning of their new lives. Both of us are still married to the man we married that day, each almost 30 years ago! As I hold the Mother of the brides dress in my hands I wonder about what her wedding was like.


I have removed all the lace from the dress now and the lace is beautiful, it will need a little mending here and there but the lace itself is exquisite. I have removed all the little buttons from the jacket, dress and sleeves, the lace is all ready to be formed into applique pieces. The rest of the fabric at this point looks like a skirt. I have now tucked it away for later use. All of the Mother of the grooms memories are still in tact and beautiful even though the dress is now, no longer. But her dress will now be a part of something more, I guess kind of a material verson of what happens in the hearts of the Mothers, now her dress will become new again but different, part of something new something larger but still looked upon with love and hope. I know both of us Mothers look to this new bond with hope for their future, Love for them both and we hope their marriage will be long and wonderful.

Okay I have become very sappy over cutting the mother of the grooms dress, hopefully when I cut up mine I can control myself. :) Mine will be next, but not sure if I will have time to do it today or wait until after Christmas.



Merry Christmas

wedding veil

I love the way everyone pitches in for weddings! My sweet daughters mother-in-law-to-be's twin sister (how fun is that!) Has offered to my daughter to wear the veil that they both got married in! So sweet! This is a beautiful veil of Belgium hand made lace! It has been preserved and is still in the box ,I look forward to when it is time to take it out, it has small flowers along the outside edge and is long and lovely.

with every wedding dress you need shoes

Along with the wedding dress I am making my daughter her wedding shoes. She asked if I would crochet them for her.

I have taken a pair of her favorite shoes and cut the top of the shoe away from the sole of the shoe.

Here is one shoe cut apart.
Then I used the top of my shoe to make a pattern for the new shoe. It was a kind of hit and miss here. I still have to finish the beading on the first one and hopefully it fits!
Then to figure out what I did the first time and try for a repeat!