The Reveal...

If you haven't already slid over to the Mood Sewing Network to look at my niece's prom dress...it's below.  And if you have already viewed the pics and write up there, I've added some additional information below...

I've made a few prom dresses over the years.  Generally I shy away from this type of sewing because of the high expectations for the dress. I don't want to dash someone's dreams. However, every once in awhile someone special to me asks if I will make a dress for them...usually I end up agreeing. This year it was my niece.

First some information on the materials used to make the dress...

Pattern ~
Butterick 4343

Fabric ~
4 yards of 45" wide mint green silk crepe back satin from Mood Fabrics
3 yards of 60" peach polyester lining from Mood Fabrics
4 yards of 14" mint green embellished lace trim from Mood Fabrics

Notions ~
22" bone color invisible zipper cut down to 14"
Taupe colored lace from the notions stash
Silk organza for the bodice

Construction Techniques:
I covered a lot of the construction details in these posts...along with the drama of the fitting challenges.  However, there were a few things I wanted to highlight about the making of this dress.

Even though the lace is stitched onto the fashion fabric in the bodice area, there is a silk organza underlining basted to the fashion fabric to give the silk body and to hold all of those hand stitches without crumpling.

The sleeve was made by cutting it out in silk organza and then the lace was stitched to it.  It was made longer than the sleeve I stole from another pattern because my niece wanted the pointed sleeve hem with thread chain that's used in bridal dresses, as part of her dress.

After I tore the dress apart to give her more room in the bodice area, I also added a silk organza gusset to the sleeve in the under arm area. I did this so that it would fit the dress' armhole that now had it's own 2.5" gusset.

I added my signature lace trim embellishment to the lining.  It seemed to add a really nice dimension to the dress.  

But I have to tell you that I did machine stitch the lining to the fashion fabric at the front slit.  I really wanted this area to hold together and I was worried that my hand stitching might pop with the getting in and out of the party bus (yes limos are passe, a party bus is how they get to the prom now!!)

I cut the zipper down to 14" because I wanted the dress to open up so that she could get into it but I didn't want an unsightly zipper ALL the way down the side of the dress.

The sleeve hem and thread piece was totally improvised.  I really meant to get back to the garment district to purchase an actual bridal accessory piece for this. I never made it...work was just too hectic.  So I improvised by making my own thread chain and stitching over it. It's just okay but it works because by the time I got to this last thing, I was so done with the dress.

Finally there is a lot of hand stitching in this dress.  Not only did I hand stitch the lace trim to the dress and the sleeve but I also hand stitched the lining into the dress.  Mostly because the pearl and sequin embellishments in the lace made stitching it in by machine a nightmare.  After a couple of broken pearls and broken needles, I realized that the only way I was going to successfully get the lining into the dress was by hand.

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A few more pictures of my niece wearing the dress at the piers in her home town prior to heading off to the prom...

This is my favorite picture from the photo shoot...

Isn't she just beautiful in this pic?!  Her hair was done by my daughter, who spent the day with her and is responsible for the great pictures!  Now you see why my daughter takes all of my pictures, she has such a great eye! And my niece's make-up was done by her sister.  It truly was a family affair with her sisters in and out of her parents house all day, as well as aunts & uncles and friends.  I was sent texts all day long with updates!

She sent me a note on Saturday morning to thank me for the dress...
"I had a good time Auntie and I absolutely loved my dress!  I can't thank you enough for the amazing job you did on it!  I love you!!"  See isn't she just precious!  Yeah, I think I'd make that wedding gown for her in the future! *LOL*

I'm so thrilled that the dress turned out well.  It was worth the drama and the sweat & tears...

...as always more later!

...and the saga continues...

Well I was right...*sigh*  My niece showed up today to take the dress home and as you can see from the photo below...

...it's still here.  The dress fits but it smushes her bosom.  It's just not flattering because the bodice is too small/too tight/too hard to get on.  After speaking with her, the measurement that was taken was her high bust measurement, not her actual bust measurement.  So of course the bodice is too tight.

The back looks good...

...and I need to add some more lace to the side.

So I will spend tomorrow adding a two inch gusset to the side seam and putting the dress back together to deliver to her on Tuesday after work.

A few things:

• I'm remarkably calm about the whole thing.  I know I can fix these issues.
• This means that all of the hand stitched lace on the front has to be removed and then stitched back on after the gusset has been added.
• The lining has been taken out and will be hand stitched in again.
• The hem needs a minor correction so that it will work for heels and when she wears flats.
• The sleeve fit is perfect!  I told you that was a dayum good sleeve! *LOL*
• ...and the back is perfect so it won't need to be reworked either.

If I'd been able to have a fitting yesterday, I would have been able to fix the dress yesterday & today delivering it tomorrow.  Instead I will spend tomorrow finishing it and will deliver it on Tuesday.  Thank goodness this is a three day weekend here in the States, so that I can take my time and get this last piece to work.

The awesome thing is that both she and her mother were apologizing to me. There was no hysteria about the dress showing up 2 days before her prom...just a lot of gratefulness that she was getting such an amazing dress...and other than the bust issue, she was really thrilled with the dress. At this point I'd make her wedding dress if she wanted because she has been so fantastic to work with.

...as always more later!

Prom Dress Construction Hysteria

Getting a good fit is just the first step...next you have to transfer all of those notes, pictures and pinnings into sewing a wearable dress.  I always breathe a sigh of relief after the fitting.  Then when I go to do the actual sewing, I have to swallow any fears/concerns that I have and get to work.

So I've done all of the sewing...got the sleeve to work...and before I sewed the lace down I took one final set of measurements to make sure the dress would fit. Now let me say that I'm making the dress to her measurements - her exact measurements with minimal ease.  Hey she's 17 with a great body and a tight elegant dress is fine.  

However, I took the bust measurement and I'm an inch and a half short.  I'm freaking out.  Seriously people freaking out.  I've taken out several of the seams but being the wonderful couture sewist that I'm NOT, I not only sewed the new seams but I removed all of the extra fabric by pinking the seams.  

Of course I'm not a perfect pinker so the seams are larger in some areas than others.  Did I care when I was pinking?  Hell no!  I was just thrilled that I had seams that wouldn't show through the silk.

I even got the sleeve in P-E-R-F-E-C-T-L-Y!  Peoples I had to find a sleeve pattern.  Adjust it down from a size 14, fix the sleeve cap, hand stitch the lace to an organza base, and insert it...then to have it fit P-E-R-F-E-C-T-L-Y was no small feat.  I have to tell you that I'm dayum proud of that sleeve.

Here's where you say, "No problem do another fitting!"  In a perfect world I would. But my niece lives over an hour away and has to work today.  I'm supposed to deliver the dress tomorrow.  I should be stitching the lace down, inserting the lining and hemming the dress...all doable by this evening/later tonight BUT here I sit paralyzed...trying to figure out if the dress will fit or if I need to take out some of the seams again. *sigh*

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Speed forward a few hours...OMG!  My SIL just called and my measurement is off! She will fit the dress top just fine!  I'm off to finish up the dress ~ paralysis is over ~ I can breathe again...

...more later!  

Prom Dress Making 2013

Several of my nieces follow me on Instagram.  When I was making my Mood Lace Project Dress, one of my nieces took particular interest because she wanted to have her prom dress made instead of buying one at retail.  So after contacting me earlier this month, we met to discuss what she was looking for in a prom dress. This is a quick sketch of what we decided upon...

My niece's parents are Pastors and I was struck by how she repeatedly said that she wanted an elegant dress that wouldn't disrespect her parents' ministry or the congregants.  Wow!  How many 17 year olds do you find that have that kind of thought process?!  After looking at the pattern companies online together, she chose this dress pattern (Butterick 4343) as a starting point...

I found some swatches at Mood's NYC store. Then after some back and forth she finally settled on a fabric. I made a quick trip to Mood Friday evening to pick up the fabric and a coordinating trim. This is what came home with me...

A med wt silk crepe back satin & an embellished mint lace

Sunday was the first fitting of the dress.  The base of the dress is a beautiful medium weight silk crepe back satin.  I picked the embellished lace based upon my conversations with my niece.  So I was a little nervous about her seeing the dress and it's components since she'd only seen a fabric swatch.  I was also concerned about stitching the dress together for the fitting.  Silk can be a little temperamental to work with and I didn't want to leave stitching holes in the fabric.

After routing through the stash, I found a spool of silk thread (gotta remember to buy more!) which I used to make a sample seam.  I stitched it.  I pressed it and then I removed the stitches and pressed it again.  No noticeable damage.  So I proceeded with machine basting the pieces together after cutting them out.

Here are pictures from the fitting...

We (my niece, my SIL and my DD) were all thrilled with what I have so far.  She has asked for one sleeve.  So I will find a sleeve pattern to pair with the dress. Everyone loved the embellished lace - big sigh of relief!  So this is what I will be working on during my five day Memorial Day weekend.  

...as always more later!