The Lady in Red - Pictures at last!

It took a long time, but I finally have some photos of the red bridesmaids dress. The dash to the finish was sheer craziness. After 3 days in the hospital, my exhausted client came to pick up her dress and didn't have her "support system" with her. She had come straight from a long day of blood tests and forgotten the bra. She left without trying the dress on, hence we do have a few small tweaks to take care of.

Back - Sheer upper back with self-bound slit

It was late, and I was getting ready to put the fastener at the back neck opening. She wanted to go home. She said, just grab whatever you can get to the quickest. Now I had wanted to do a covered button and loop. Fastest was a hook and eye. That will be replaced as it kept popping open all evening.

The photo below shows the asymmetrical drape with its black satin rose. It added some accent color in addition to the shoulders. She and I came up with the flower at the same time. As you can see, I need to at least double the size to be in scale with the woman in the dress. She also discovered that we need to secure the drape a bit forward of the side seam so that it will be visible when her arms are at her sides.

Side view showing satin rose

Since the wedding, she has worn the dress twice more and loved it each time. However, the chiffon has done what fabric will do when there is bias involved. It stretched unevenly. Note the extra-long left side of the handkerchief hem. Now that the dress has hung out a bit, I'm going to correct the hem.

 

At the wedding

After the wedding, I got a message on my voice mail that started out with her saying she had something bad and something really, really good to tell me. Bad turned out to be the hook and eye that kept letting go and a tiny bit of seam that let go due to picking up and swinging a small child. Good was her going on and on about how much she loves the dress and that she wants at least 2 more in different colors. Best? One of the guests, a future bride, wanted to know where she got her dress. Now there are 3 bridesmaids, a matron of honor and maybe even a bridal gown to do by the beginning of February!

 

I am so excited to have the opportunity to work with 4 different body types. My objective is for each of the women to be as thrilled with her dress as my beautiful Lady in Red!

 

 

 

 

 

March Madness - The Red Bridesmaid's Dress

Remember way back in February when I posted the sketches of that bridesmaid's dress and promised updates? Between my lovely vacation and the huge crush to finish the dress on time, I haven't been able to touch anything other than sewing tools for the last month! (Not to mention being ill twice in the middle of all that.) The dress would not have required crunch time if it had stayed on the original schedule. My client told me the wedding was a week later than it actually was about 2 weeks ago. My April 11 deadline became the wedding date! And my nights and weekends vanished into a pile of red stretch satin, chiffon and tissue paper.

I ended up doing dress #1. The cationic chiffon, which was really beautiful fabric, was too black. Back to the shopping for fabric. We settled on a red stretch satin and chiffon from Sy Fabrics. I also got some black crepe-back satin for the trim. I did my math based on a lovely Goth skirt tutorial from Antimony and Lace. Figuring on 3 layers of chiffon for the skirt plus bodice & sleeves I came up with 10 yards of 45" chiffon. I placed the order, sat back and looked at my calculations once more. Then I called them & added another 10 yards of chiffon!

Starting with a moulange a la Kenneth King, I drafted a tight, princess seamed bodice to serve as the understructure for the dress. His "Birth of a Bustier" was my handbook for the pattern draft. My test garment became the inner layer of the bodice. The skirt was a simple A-line with a bit of ease added for comfort and drape. I wasn't going for a pencil dress.

A couple of fittings and many layers later, I had a workroom full of chiffon pieces and a basted-together satin dress to go underneath the chiffon. That brings me up to last night's final fitting. One little tweak over the bustline, one little tuck in the back and shortening the bone at center front will yield a strapless bodice with perfect fit. I tried the first layer of skirt and we adjusted the length a bit.

Then the fun began. I do love draping! We played around with the bodice chiffon until we got the perfect look, which turned out not to be the sketch. Rather than ending the drape at the waistline, we continued it down as a loose, scarf-like line on one side. We ditched the black sash in favor of the scarf and added a black satin rose at the waistline. We also changed the yoke at the neckline to black satin and added a line of black piping across the top of the bodice. The upper back is one layer of chiffon and the sleeves got re-designed to echo the handkerchief skirt.

The very best thing about last night? My client looked in the mirror and said, "Hey! I don't look like a tube of lipstick. I have a waist. I don't look frumpy. I've never had a dress I didn't look frumpy in!" And that is why I love making custom clothing. The bright smile when someone looks in the mirror and sees that they really are beautiful! More on that later. That thought inspires a whole post of it's own.

Dress gets delivered Monday. Look for pictures soon after!

Some Advice for Brides & Bridesmaids

This is short and sweet. If the shop you bought your dress from had to order your dress, do not sign that you picked it up until you try it on! I am encountering more brides and bridesmaids who need alterations because their dresses were sized incorrectly. Several people I know have signed the reciept, taken their gowns home, tried them on and found out that the gowns wouldn't zip up completely.

Once you sign that receipt, all alterations are at your expense. If you try the dress on before you sign and the dress is the wrong size, you can ask for a replacement. This does not include alterations to make a correctly sized dress fit your figure properly. This is for the cases where the dress is obviously the wrong size. You can't zip it up or you swim in it. And don't let them blame it on weight gain or wearing the wrong bra to stick you with the cost of alterations.

Chain-store bridal shops often make the bulk of their money through alterations. I think that's one of the reasons they can sell at such low prices.

Let the buyer beware. Try it on before you sign! Or just get a custom-made dress.

Why These Sketches: Insight on designing for large, curvy women

I finished two concept sketches and gave them to my customer for discussion and approval. She also has to run them by the bride, so we will see what happens there. The bride's requirements are candy apple red with black trim and tea length. My customer hates shiny satin and wants sleeves.


 

Chiffon dress with handkerchief hem

The chiffon dress was the first concept I gave to my customer because one of her inspiration dresses had a handkerchief hem and she likes chiffon.Of course, there are some other considerations as well. She has a large bust and somewhat narrower waist and hips, so the slightly raised waistline accented by a contrast belt elongates the lower half of her body and draws attention downwards. The diagonal line across the bust is slimming and the sweetheart style neckline is flattering to her wide shoulders. I added the black ribbon passementerie trim at the shoulders to bring in more of the bride's accent color. The sleeves were inspired by the draped cowl sleeve in this blog post.



The dress below uses princess seams to elongate the body and draw the eye downwards. It's a little edgier and I think it fits my customer's personality a bit better.The flare at the bottom widens the hip to balance the figure and the mesh insets accentuate the flare of the skirt even more, giving a lot of motion to the dress. A V neck is flattering for larger women and especially for those with wide shoulders. The trim at the neckline adds to the V, increasing the effect of the slimming diagonal lines. That trim could be either black, to continue the line of the raglan sleeves, or red, to carry the main fabric upwards. I do plan to bead it lightly using tone on tone.

Charmeuse dress with black mesh godets



You might notice a difference between the two figures the dresses are drawn on. The top figure is more representative of my customer's real body shape. The bottom is a "fashion figure," plus-size but still tall and leggy. Lets face it - there are more of us shorter, rounder curvier women out there than there are tall skinny models. That's why I like to draw using more realistic body shapes. I have yet to draw the second dress on an apple-shaped body. Perhaps that will be the subject of my next post.





Introducing Historical Fashion by Barbara Anne

Wondering how to finish that seam? Can’t figure out how to make that cosplay coat defy gravity? Eager for new sewing ideas? This is the place for you.
I’ve been sewing all my life and have a costume & custom clothing business exploding in my sewing studio. And I’m ready to share that knowledge and experience with you.
I promise you’ll find solutions to fitting problems, tutorials, sewing tips and plenty of fun here on Sew, What’s Next?
Click that “Follow” button now and join me on my sewing adventure.

What’s next? I’m in the process of designing a bridesmaids dress for a lovely, large, apple-shaped woman. It needs to be tea-length and candy-apple red with black trim. Those are the bride’s only requirements. And my customer loves the look of chiffon, an asymmetrical hemline and wants sleeves. The challenge - design something that meets those requirements, flatters her figure and doesn’t scream “bridesmaid.” i.e. No butt bows.
With wide shoulders, large bust and narrower hips, I need something that will minimize the shoulder width, show off the bust, and provide an illusion of a waistline and hips. Chiffon is pretty “floaty” and will help with visually enlarging her bottom half. But it will need to be controlled in the bodice so as not to add bulk.
So far, I have a sweetheart neckline trimmed in black - crepe-back satin, I think. A handkerchief skirt with several layers of red chiffon. A matching red charmeuse lining. And a lovely draped sleeve inspired by this blog entry from RhondaBuss. Still to come - exactly how to shape & drape the bodice.
Stay tuned - sketches are coming!