my wedding attire - part two the gown

 So for the gown it took me some time to decide on what I wanted. Being an older bride I didn't want anything that was too much of a princess-style, but I still like a serious amount of fabric. I also wanted to make a gown that was flattering for my figure (of course) but also a gown where I could use my strengths as a seamstress, and minimize techniques that I am know I'm worse with using.

Pattern

In the end the gown was a frankenpatterned version where the skirt, mostly, came from Wearing History's 1916 Eloise dress. It is basically a big piece of fabric that was pleated to the waist. As detailing it has two deep pleats, and the hem is just as deep as the pleats. This made something happen with the skirt, instead of just being plain, and since the hem was to look like a third pleat I didn't have to worry about doing an invisible hem, but could have the seam be visible. In the instructions it is said that the skirt is too long and that it is necessary to adjust it. For me that meant that I also adjusted the pleats by moving them upwards.

For the belt I used the stay pieces of the Butterick belt, but skipped the pleated parts of the belt.

For the bodice I had to change the closure from a side closure to a back closure. I simply did that by not cutting the back piece on fold and add a seam allowance. I also added straight strips of self fabric as facings for the back opening.

The main thing I liked with the Butterick pattern were the dolman sleeves, that are cut in one with the bodice so I didn't have to struggle with set in sleeves. I hate setting sleeves. This kind of sleeves are more limited in how much you can move, but I wasn't going to to do a any handstands or cartwheels anyway.

Fabric

For the fabric I decided to splurge. After all this is a once in a life time dress. Since the gown was going to be quite simple I wanted the fabric to stand out as luxurious and wonderful. I ended up buying 6 meters of duchesse silk satin from Sartor. It was expensive, but so wonderful to work with. It was stiff and didn't slide around. I tried to use as few pins as possible, and I hardly needed to. As long as the seams were straight I could just hold the fabrice and feed it into my machine. It took ironing really well as well. For the belt I used a gold and purple 16th century reproduction brocade, also from Sartor. I had bought it as a remnant even before I met my husband, but I hadn't dared to use it for anything. With our common interested in the 16th century I felt that it was a good way of giving a nod to that in my gown, without making an historical gown. It was also this fabric that decided that our theme colours were purple and gold.

The process

I started with making a complete mockup of the bodice. Now there were definitely issues here, since I was going to fit a 1950s style bodice over a 1910s corset. This is also where I got really nervous. I had my (then future) husband help me with measurements when I was in the corset, but to be honest I was worried that he hadn't done them correctly. The bodice has pleats in the front and darts in the back, and those had to be adjusted quite a lot to get a good fit. I then used the mock up pieces as my pattern pieces.

In the end I don't think the thick duchesse satin was the best choice of fabric for the bodice, the pleats looked better in the thinner cotton I used for the mock up, but the fabric was perfect for the skirt instead.

The pattern was easy to follow. I added a lining, which also made it possible for me to sew the bias binding of the edges to the lining and not to the main fabric. One thing I would have done differiently today was that I would have made the bias binding wider. With the thick satin and the lining it was tricky to bind the edges properly and get all the raw edges within the binding. With the adjustment I did the neckline also ended up a bit wider than I had planned, but it was still ok.

The gown was constructed with the bodice and the belt in the same fabric as the boddice. Then I attached the skirt to the bodice and belt, and then I finished by sewing the brocade belt over the satin belt. The brocade belt was handsewn on, which also made it easier to pattern match the fabric.

Throughout the process I had my old dressform, which has fallen apart below the waist and has never been a good fit for my body when wearing a corset. Still what I did was that I adjusted it to its smallest size, then I put the corset on over it and I used fabric to stuff the gap between the dressform and the corset. I then draped the gown over the dressform. I was really nervous when it was time to try everything on, but in the end it fit like a glove. I am so happy that well made corset makes dress fitting so much easier.

The closure

The one hickup I had was the closure of the gown. I used an invisble zipper for the skirt, but I only had a fairly short one, and I didn't feel like buying a new one when I had an invisible zipper in cream in my stash. When I sewed it on something got wrong and I ended up with stitches over the zipper. It's not visible, but the zipper lost a few cm. This made it just about possible for me to get in and out of the skirt. The original plan had been to let the zipper go up through the belt as well. The belt was closed with hook and eye. 

I have always liked to look of cloth buttons. I ordered a set to make my own cloth buttons, but it never arrived. (well it arrived three weeks after the wedding). After having stressed about it I decided to make my own cloth buttons, like I have done medieval wool buttons. They really took their time, and I found it hard to get them even in satin, which is a lot less forgiving than wool. I used thread loops, made with silk thread, to fasten the buttons. This was my one panic before the wedding, and I actually finished the last thread loop 30 minutes before I was due at my hairdresser on my wedding day.

Personally I only see how uneven in shape and size the buttons are, but to be honest they are hardly visible in any of the photos, due to my hair and veil. And the mass effect of a long row of buttons still look good.

I must say that I am impressed with how good my husband was in helping me undress when we got home, considering that we were both dead tired and he had to navigate between  zippers, buttons, hook and eye and a laced up corset before I was out of my gown completely.

The jewellry was all family pieces. The earrings are from my paternal grandmother, the pearl necklace is a gift from my aunt that wanted me to have something from my maternal grandmother some years ago. I had it restrung ahead of the wedding though. The brooch was a gift from my father, and since he is not among us any more it was important for me to wear it on my wedding day. Finally my mother has had a tradition to give her daughters something just before going into church. My sisters have gotten brooched, but since I already had one I got a gold bracelet with a pearl that is from her great aunt. I felt very honoured to be able to wear so much family history on my big day.

Finally I must say I wasn't alone in getting married, and my husband looked so handsome in his white tie.