Making the Dress: Part 3

Well, friends, it's in one piece!  Still not a finished product - but closer than ever.  Just some hemming and fitting, and it will be aisle-ready!  I love it.  Of course, now that it's together, these Making the Dress segments will be on hold for a while (97 days til the big one!)  Until then, here's a few recents.

This first one represents the whole process - one big journey in problem solving.  We laid out the fabric, took the first cut for the skirt, and then my wise Aunt suggested we measure the rest before making any more cuts.  We did, and had JUST enough for what we needed...that is, until I realized, "we only measured for the skirt!  What about the bodice??"  Uh oh.  So this is a picture of the back of the bodice pattern, which needs to fit on that piece of fabric.  I said I felt like Jesus with the 5 loaves and 2 fish - making a miracle happen.  

But of course, we made it work.  Here it is in pieces!  Aunt Donna told me that this is the part she never lets the bride see.  Oh well, I was happy!  Even though we had put in around 18 hours before even turning on the sewing machine...

No, I didn't hand-stitch my dress.  But I feel like I did with all that basting.  Many parts I actually cut and basted twice, because my Aunt had a nightmare about the lining we had been using (literally) and decided it was all wrong, so she decided to get a different kind and start again.  She was totally right - what we have now is much better, so I was willing to baste the night away.  

Finally, the machine is running!  Here I am putting the first 2 pieces together.

Yay!  Now, it's hanging up for a while, so that the bias of the skirt stretches out - I had no idea that was an important step - glad I'm not doing this alone! (thanks Aunt Donna!)