Almost that time again...

Hi there!  I finally have the time and the internet to post an update.  -grin-  Above you see one of the projects that I actually remembered to get pictures of this Spring.  This is my dear friend Starr's newly decorated bodice.  Last year for Dickens I was unable to get all the handwork completed on it so gave her the blue moiré bodice to wear sans trim to wear for the weekend.  This is the bodice that goes with the dress that I was reproducing from a dress that resides at the MET.

 You can see here how the trim looks with the whole dress here.  The only real difference being that our dress is silk and moiré instead of wool, so on the skirt where the pleated trim looks fringed and the same color, I actually used the rust silk there as well, but the horizontal lines are satin ribbon instead,  This gives a visual texture difference as opposed to color.  

I spent about 8 days putting this trim on in by hand.  The strips are bias, and there was a lot of tweaking to get them to lay nicely as well not stretch too much and not bind.  I needed these to NOT hinder the movement of the finished bodice or change its relative size.  

As an aside to this I finally watched and caught up with all 7 seasons of Doctor Who while I was doing the hand sewing. (I watch very little TV and had not seen any DW since 2005). Totally appropriate really when Starr is also a huge fan. -grin-

In another note, the buttons are vintage.  My lovely friend Eide had them on her etsy site.  They are 3/8" copper back cut steel with oak leaves and acorns as the motif.  They are perfect!

For more pictures of the finished bodice from more angles than necessary please go look at the Flickr tag Starr.

And now onto the Wedding this year.  Meet Emily Soens née Gormican and Kevin Soens.  Kevin had his gorgeous 3-piece suit made for him by Dandy's suits in Austin.  We saw them at Dickens last year, and they do great work as well as being super friendly.  I have personally seen 3 of their suits, and they have all looked fantastic as well as fit extremely well.  They have a great eye for detail.

For Emily, she has a huge love for vintage clothes and the Victorian era, so she leapt right down the rabbit-hole with glee!

I made for her an entire trousseau of bloomers, camisole, corset, and petticoat in a lovely ecru with vintage lace.  Her two Naturalform dresses were also intended to be worn at other functions.  This way they could be more fun, and less strictly bridal.  The day dress which she wore for pre-wedding photos is a French brocade reminiscent of 18th century designs with dark copper metallic lace over an underskirt of celadon blue silk with velvet ribbon trim.

The wedding dress is a buff taffeta polonaise trimmed in applied ivory lace with vintage glass buttons.  At the back of the skirt at the bustled points are two detachable blue velvet ribbons with two more buttons.  This is then worn over the same blue underskirt.

We have plans of potentially adding another bodice to the pieces that is for fancier evening events like the Ball at Dickens, but for now they both look stunning!

If you would like to see some more pictures of Emily's dresses from their final fitting, please look at their flickr Set Gormican/Soens Wedding.  

Now, it is about that time again to start sewing like mad for Dickens.  I have some really pretty dresses about to be made.  I will do my best to at least document parts of their building.  I often do updates on Facebook at my fan page Waisted Efforts, more regularly than here.  So, check in frequently and feel free to comment.  

see you soon! Cheers!