Bridesmaid dress: V.2 finished

This is version 2- I managed to overfit Version 1 plus I ended up hating it so much I never finished lining it or hemming it!

Some quick dress details;

Bodice from Simplicity 4070
Sleeves from Vogue 8943
Skirt is just the width of fabric gathered.
Rigelene boning in the back and front seams.

Adjustments;

Size 18
1" FBA
1" Back width
1" bicep adjustment

Fabric;
Lace from Clear It in Melbourne
Chiffon and Lining from Lincraft

The dress was constructed from directions in Bridal Couture - there is a muslin underlining which is overlayed with the lining then the chiffon - my lace has a purple undertone that I couldn't match with plain chiffon but with the purple lining layered underneath it matches pretty well.

I catch-stitched down all the seams and fell stitched in the lining. First time I've used prick stitching instead of understitching and I'm really happy with it.

I added bra strap holders.

All in all I'm pretty happy with the fit. I do need to do some more tweaking - the back lace section is a bit loose, I should have interfaced or stay stitched it before I started sewing. I have some crumpling in the back waistband also, so it needs to be moved slightly higher and have a sturdier interfacing in it. The fit around the armholes needs to be refined too, I have a bit of excess at the front. But its definitely wearable and I like the shape on me

Bridesmaid sewing: V.1 - adventures in couture sewing

I feel like a fraud writing couture sewing - do real couture seamstress consider using the serger instead of binding seams? Or think that silk organza is a scratchy itchy seam binding? Or use plastic boning stitched into seams?!

Anyway, I started fitting and sewing the first practise run of the bridesmaid dresses. I'm using Simplicity 4070, its the only pattern I have with a lace overlay which means I don't need to draft anything.

I'm pretty much following the instructions out of the Bridal Couture book so cut everything with big wide seam allowances and marked the stitching lines with wax tracing paper.

I underlined the georgette with muslin which gave it a bit of body and let me catch stitch down the seam allowances. I wanted to add in boning and had a big roll of rigeline in my shelf - I used two strips on either side of each seam except for the very front seams where I only used one. Its smoothed out the bodice nicely. I left it too late to add channels so just stitched it into the seam allowances before they were catch stitched down.

It did originally make the bust seam sit out a bit too far but I found this awesome post on pattern review and went back and unpicked the boning and eased it in and now its sitting perfectly.

I planned on using silk organza to underline the lace but since this lace is fairly stable I didn't need to. This is my second version of the lace - the first I tried using silk organza to bind the seams but didn't like the look or feel so French seamed the lace and then made my own bias binding to finish the neck and armhole seams

Notes to self;
I eased in stay tape to the front top of the bodice but next time I need to be a bit more aggressive with the easing
Either add more boning or interface the underlining - Its not quite stiff enough.
Starch the hell out of the georgette!
Remove all the thread basting - yes it gets hidden but it just looks messy
Iron the rigeline flat first - its bowing the side seams out.

I've just pinned the skirt on here - I want to change the pleats to gathers (I figure it will be more flattering to C's pregnant belly).

I'm hoping to get the skirt finished and insert the zipper this weekend.