I’m actually doing it! I’m making the dress! I’m feeling SO much better about where I am at with this project now that I have actually started. It’s amazing what a difference one sewing session can make. I have finished the construction on the bodice now and I already have the skirt cut out and ready to sew, too. Let’s take a look at this bodice!
In case you missed it, I am using our Lockhart Dress pattern as my base for this dress. You can see my wearable muslins here! I ended up going with the striped teal one with the gathered skirt at the natural waist. I scooped the Lockhart neckline and lowered it slightly.
I asked for help with deciding on the embroidered tulle lace placement on the dress and you all really delivered! Thank you so much for your input. The top pics seemed to be 1, 2, and 5. There were lots of votes for all of them, though! People were expressing concerns about swirls over the nipples and Georgia O'keeffe motifs in the lace, all of which I was also very concerned about, haha!
After much deliberation I landed on option 1. It is the upper edge of the lace and it does not have any embroidery on it which makes sewing along the upper edge of the bodice much less bulky. It doesn't have any swirls or flowers right on the nipple area, and I really love the leaves that arch up from the waist. I also noticed how perfectly well it lined up across not only the center front bodice, but also the side fronts and the back, too. It felt like it was meant to be!
I cut it out to create a sweetheart neckline shape. It is kind of a faux-sweetheart because I cut the bodice with a scooped neck but the lace gives a subtle nod to the sweetheart style. It is a really cool effect! I love how the flowers along the edge arch over the neckline and I managed to continue them onto the back of the bodice too.
For the back. I played with placement and landed on a dip in the flowers where I plan to attach the back straps. It arches up again at the center back. I am so pleased with how this all worked out! To get perfectly matching lace cuts, I cut one and then layered it over the next one to carefully copy the placement.
For the underlining I used Weightless Cotton Voile from Blackbird Fabrics. I interfaced it with fusible interfacing but it was still a bit see-through. I ended up underlining it with another layer of white cotton poplin. I used the interfaced cotton voile for the lining too. So the full bodice goes like this from the inside out:
-
-
Interfaced cotton voile (lining)
-
Cotton poplin
-
Interfaced cotton voile
-
Lace
-
I sewed the three outer layers together before construction, so I just pinned all three layers and sewed around the outside edge using a 1/4” (0.6 cm) seam allowance. Then I treated them as one fabric for constructing the bodice. The lining layer was separate. I did my very best sewing but still had some wobbles, as always. Here is a close up of my understitching on the lining layer.
For the straps I layered some of the tulle that did not have any embroidery over the white voile to make the straps match. The lining is now sewn on and the straps are in place! I basted in a zipper so I could try it on.
I LOVE it!! The fit is perfect, the lace is gorgeous, I am just so excited about it. It lines up perfectly on the front and back, and the side is good enough. That is under the arms anyways, right? I can’t wait to keep working in this dress and I’ll share more with you soon!
