The Downton Gala presented by WMHT

What a wonderful time we had at the Downton Gala, held by WMHT at the beautifully appointed Desmond Hotel in Albany.  The evening began with champagne and picture opportunities along with an impressive silent auction.

Here is my dress – an actual photo of me, in my dress.  I must say, I felt perfectly garbed for the evening.  I also felt a little blind because I did not wear my rather contemporary glasses.  The pictures came out mostly ok anyway!

And, here is the dress I spent so much time on over the late summer and fall.  This is the dress that started it all.  So becoming on my friend, don’t you think?

And our “dates” (well, husbands) were looking dapper as well. 

The crowd came fully dressed for an evening of 20s frivolity.  Most of the gentlemen wore tuxedos and the ladies were beaded and styled to the nines.  There were some very nice displays, including some lovely frocks!

The tables were set in grand Downton style, with fresh floral arrangements and elegant candelabras.

We had a wonderful time at the Gala – and we even took home a case of wine from the silent auction!  Thanks, WMHT, for a wonderful evening prior to the stateside airing of the final episode of Downton Abbey!  Now what will I do with my Sunday evenings?

That Downton Dress - III

I continue to work on the Downton Dress.  All the hems have been very time consuming, but they continue to progress, and the results are very satisfying! Now I'm beginning to think about the embellishments.  The front of the dress has a draped belt and it needs clasps.  The woman I'm making the dress for bought gorgeous 1920's clasps on Etsy.  These are the real deal, and look as thought they were made for this dress!

Evening dresses in the era were often beaded and embellished.  The print on this dress is quite ornamental itself, but I purchased some other embellishments which will match nicely with the clasps.

One thing I'd like to do is put a single rhinestone on each point of the handkerchief hem, along with three bugle beads.  The larger piece will be on the back of the dress to stabilize the v-back.

This is a fun project, and one that I hope will yield stunning results!  Thanks for checking in!

p.s.  Any thoughts on the new logo?

That Downton Dress-II

One challenge with a vintage pattern is a scarcity of directions - even when the pattern is a repro, Much was assumed about the skill of the seamstress.  This dress has many handkerchief leaves in its hem, with no direction as to how to finish them.  A couture dress is distinguished by the hand sewing that goes into its production, so I decided hand rolled hems would be the most appropriate for this gown.  This is a painstaking process, but very rewarding in the end.

First, the raw edge is folded over and held in place with a tiny running stitch.  Then, a running zigzag is made, taking only a few threads into each stitch.

Here's another look in case my big thumb was obscuring your view.

After you've made a half dozen or so of these stitches, gently pull on the thread and it magically rolls into a beautiful rolled hem, which looks like this from the wrong side:

And, like this from the outside of the garment:

I'm super happy with the look of this, but there are a lot of them to do! Hope your week's sewing is going well!

Would You Consider Making Your Own Wedding Dress?

I'm sincerely interested in your answers to that question.  You see I'm getting married in August and I assumed I'd be making my own gown.  I've made them for others, so why not for myself?

I want to do it for economic reasons, for environmental reasons, for romantic reasons, and for sentimental reasons. DIY certainly seems to be the choice of most brides today when it comes to the favors, decor, flowers, etc.  At least it seems that way when you look at Pinterest pinboards, or the myriad of wedding sites in the blogosphere.

Then I started reading some other sewing blogs on the subject.  In her recent post, What I Learned While Sewing My Wedding Dress, Kim from Cotton Creek Sewing has some really great advice, including buying extra fabric and being willing to start over.  I plan on using satin from my mother's wedding gown, so extra fabric may not be an option, though I am looking for some look-alike satin just in case. 

I already incorporated my Mother's wedding gown in my daughter's Odette tutu.  To  make the basque, I separated the bodice from the skirts, removed the sleeves, and replaced the zipper with a grommeted lace-up closure.  The tutu was made from scratch, but the top layers were netting and re-embroidered lace from the skirt of my Mother's gown.

I saved all the other bits and pieces, but not with the idea of ever using them for a dress for myself. I never thought I'd get married the first time, let alone remarry!  I like the idea of wearing at least parts of my mother's gown, I like the ecology of refashioning, I like that most of the fabric will be free, and I like that the result will be uniquely me.  I have some vague visions of what the completed dress will look like.

Meg, from A Practical Wedding, started out with a family  (group effort) sewn wedding gown, only to find that the dress, despite a muslin and multiple mailed back and forth fittings,  did not fit properly.  The hand sewn gown was jettisoned in favor of a vintage find.  Though I plan to do all the sewing myself, could I end up needing a "Plan B gown"?

Many sewists do their own gowns.  Examples includes Melissa of FehrTrade, The Curious Kiwi,  and the totally impressive Iowahoodlum of FeatherPetalSilk, who learned to sew by doing her wedding gown! 

Well, would you do it?  Let me know!