Making My Wedding Dress: Part Duex

So I left off where I began my wedding dress fabric search. I googled around in search of dotted swiss, ordered a couple of swatches, but after a trip up to Osgood's in West Springfield, Mass, I came home with the perfect material. 

Gosh I love polka dots!

I cut out my pattern in the dot fabric and the underlining. The underlining is just a heavy cotton, nothing remarkable except that it drapes well and is thick enough to hide any colors underneath. (Suppose I could have worn bright blue undies and no one would have seen ;)

A little tip I learned from Gertie, pin the fabric to the underlining outwards to slightly pull the fabric taut.

For neatness I sewed the skirt together with French seams...it added tad bit more bulkiness, but it was  much cleaner looking inside. 

Ok so now with the bodice attached to the skirt it finally looks like a dress! Making headway!

Boning inserted and lining attached

For my "something blue" I used my embroidery function on my machine to embroider a quote that a beloved Aunt once said. I sewed it right into the lining with blue thread. I didn't stabilize the fabric so it is a little jumbled up, but it doesn't matter, at least I know it's there, and what it means. I forgot to take a picture during the construction process but in my next post I will share it :) 

The original pattern had waist ties that I very neatly sewed into the bodice. They were cute, but there was something about them I didn't love, so I picked away at the side stitches and ripped them out. See ya. 

Now on to the daunting task of hemming....but never fear, I used my rolled hem foot! This is actually my first time using it (aside from a quick test hem). It wasn't perfect, but I felt that my time and sanity was worth preserving. 

With the zipper inserted and the skirt hemmed its now finished...or it is...

While I finished the dress, felt proud of my work (meaning I did not cut corners) and it fit me perfectly, I saw it as a little 'blah". I liked the simplicity of the original...Ivy & Astor's "Sweet Pea", but my version was a little boring.  

Maybe it could use some cap sleeves...

Nah...to sun dressy. I also asked the opinion of some of my fashionista friends..."lose the sleeves, Sam"

But it's still so blah...what does it need? BLING...SHINY THINGS...

OK, so it's not quite Lil Wayne bling, but gold is overrated anyway.

I'll blog about how I "blung up" my dress next! And post wedding pics!