The Sewing Place

Fairy Finking- wedding dress for a friend

BrendaP

Re: Fairy Finking- wedding dress for a friend
« Reply #45 on: April 01, 2018, 10:16:18 AM »
Oooooo! you are brave.  Getting that lot laid out on the floor looks to be even worse than layering up a large quilt.

For holding things in  place when the pins just fall out have you tried using these?
Brenda.  My machines are: Corona, a 1953 Singer 201K-3, Caroline, a 1940 Singer 201K-3, Thirza, 1949 Singer 221K, Azilia, 1957 Singer 201K-MK2 and Vera, a Husqvarna 350 SewEasy about 20 years old. Also Bernina 1150 overlocker and Elna 444 Coverstitcher.
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.

DementedFairy

Re: Fairy Finking- wedding dress for a friend
« Reply #46 on: April 01, 2018, 10:24:58 AM »
Oooooo! you are brave.  Getting that lot laid out on the floor looks to be even worse than layering up a large quilt.

For holding things in  place when the pins just fall out have you tried using these?

I bought a bag recently...and totally forgot about them until I'd finished.  Double duh. >:)
C'est moi!

Ploshkin

Re: Fairy Finking- wedding dress for a friend
« Reply #47 on: April 01, 2018, 10:30:54 AM »
If I'd had to do all that I think is would be tear stained as well.
Life's too short for ironing.

SkoutSews

Re: Fairy Finking- wedding dress for a friend
« Reply #48 on: April 01, 2018, 11:19:39 AM »
Blimey, Fairy, that's amazing! You have such patience to deal with that. Looking forward to seeing the end result.

sewingj

Re: Fairy Finking- wedding dress for a friend
« Reply #49 on: April 01, 2018, 11:24:46 AM »
Just wondering if Meghan Markle`s dressmaker has been scrabbling about on the floor in her underwear

UttaRetch

Re: Fairy Finking- wedding dress for a friend
« Reply #50 on: April 01, 2018, 15:18:41 PM »
@DementedFairy: you certainly need to keep the cats out of the way of all that netting. :devil:

DementedFairy

Re: Fairy Finking- wedding dress for a friend
« Reply #51 on: April 01, 2018, 15:24:24 PM »
BAck in the 80s/90s when I made a gazillion wedding and bridesmaid dresses, I also had to make a bazillion net petticoats.  One of my cats got very ingenious at getting at them, and he always waited until they were done, and hung up.  In the night, he'd somehow manage to get them down and EAT CHUNKS of them, then he'd vomit it all back up in nasty frothy netty heaps round the room.
Vile creature.
C'est moi!

Sandra

Re: Fairy Finking- wedding dress for a friend
« Reply #52 on: April 01, 2018, 15:30:26 PM »
Ewww.... :x  :meow:

Sandra.
xxx

datcat23

Re: Fairy Finking- wedding dress for a friend
« Reply #53 on: April 02, 2018, 09:12:38 AM »
Many years ago, I was involved with a charity that took donated wedding gowns, and made them into burial gowns for pre-term babies.    Part of the process, was deconstructing the gowns, including the net petticoats.

As you can see, its not just cats that like net ..... Little madam went slightly nuts when I pulled this out.

I love tulle by Dani, on Flickr
The barefoot seamstress:  smelling vaguely of lavender and mothballs, and desperately craving chocolate.
2024:  Mending:  2  | Fabric used:  2.5m | Items made:  1  |  Quilts:      |  Fabric destashed:  25m

DementedFairy

Re: Fairy Finking- wedding dress for a friend
« Reply #54 on: April 03, 2018, 17:18:45 PM »
I've been tulle-wrangling again!  The bride will be coming for the next fitting at the weekend, so I wanted to get it to a reasonably 'together' state.  The boned inner bodice has had its lower edge bound, and is machine basted to the fashion fabric.  The top edge of the dress had stretched quite a bit, despite stay-stitching, just from handling, so it had to be eased back into shape.  I think the bust pads and lace will disguise any irregularities though!
I basted on the tulle to the waistline...and found that it was too small [I cut out a smaller circle than needed on purpose to allow for stretch or mistakes!  I raised it all up a bit, and re-basted.
The missus volunteered to stand on a stool 'wearing' the dress so that I could roughly chop away the excess tulle, and I took the opportunity to pin-baste the illusion net into place for the upper bodice.  It's looking OK I think, the tulle looks a lot less pink when it's properly spread out around the dress!
Now I'm going to attach some inner hanging ribbons so that I can stuff the whole caboodle into the hanging bag to keep it clean, then I can get back to my OWN sewing, much more fun!
C'est moi!

DementedFairy

Re: Fairy Finking- wedding dress for a friend
« Reply #55 on: April 10, 2018, 18:34:04 PM »
2nd fitting was fine- nothing needed altering and we got the hem pinned and the tulle further trimmed to more or les match. 
WOT I LERNDED- I hate tulle.  It was  a bitch to trim even roughly, and just kept getting tattier, so I hacked it away, resolving to lay it on the table to trim again later.
I pithered about with the illusion mesh to get it more or less right, then extracted bride from dress, and sat with her to choose lace/appliques/buttons etc for finishing
Decisions duly made [or at least narrowed down] I sent her off to debate which to order, guided by her mum's budget.
I will pick up buttons at the market next week and order looping to suit.
Yesterday I levelled the tulle [horrible job].  Well actually I didn't even bother trying to actually level it, I just trimmed away everywhere it was raggedy and that will have to suffice.  If it ends up scrappy they'll have to order another layer's worth [I said 2 layers was minimum, three would def be better]

She's opted for black lace overlays, and chose a particularly dramatic applique, very large, which will hopefully be chop-uppable to do the job properly.  Fingers crossed that sheer nerve and some fray check will get me by!

Apparently the lace should arrive in a week or so, which should keep me on schedule for finising it by the end of MAy and the start of exam marking season.
C'est moi!

DementedFairy

Re: Fairy Finking- wedding dress for a friend
« Reply #56 on: May 20, 2018, 15:10:13 PM »
Last but one fitting.
Third layer of tulle attached, teensy buttons and button loops attached [all done yesterday and this morning lol]

Black guipure trim attached round the neckline yesterday- BITCH of a job.  It's nice enough lace but was cheap...and this showed as I started attaching it by hand...the corded bits just kept coming off, and instead of being nice long pieces were all short lengths so I was catching loose ends down all over the place.

The black lace appliques are nicer, no cording, but there are EIGHT, they are LARGE, and need to be trimmed, shaped and cut to work well.  They are currently just pinned and rough basted, which was the point of today's 'fitting' so we could check on placement. 

Happily, bride and MOB had no disagreement with my suggestions, so we are all set.

Two weeks to final 'fit' and collection, when we will sort out bustle point placement and trim off any dangling tulle that shows after all the appliques are attached.

Yay!
C'est moi!

DementedFairy

Re: Fairy Finking- wedding dress for a friend
« Reply #57 on: May 22, 2018, 17:19:22 PM »
Here's a sneak pic [the lace is only pinned on at the mo]

And playing with bustling points:

THe bride is chuffed so all is good

UttaRetch

Re: Fairy Finking- wedding dress for a friend
« Reply #58 on: May 22, 2018, 17:29:43 PM »
That is looking spectacular, @DementedFairy.

Sewingsue

Re: Fairy Finking- wedding dress for a friend
« Reply #59 on: May 22, 2018, 17:30:07 PM »
Gorgeous and a heck of a lot of work.
Bernina Aurora 440QE, Brother BC-2500, Singer 99K (1938), Juki MO-654DE overlocker, Silver Viscount 620D overlocker.