Wedding Dress Part 3--The Fabric

     This post is dedicated to the fabric that I selected for my Wedding Dress! I knew that I wanted nicer fabric than what is available at my local fabric stores, so I had to search online for my fabric. It was a little bit nerve wracking ordering so much fabric without seeing it or touching it, but I am really happy with what I ended up with!

All of the fabric when it came in!

      Let's begin with the fabric that helped create the shape and structure of the dress. As I will mention in another post, I used cotton batting and cotton twill to help give the strapless bodice structure. Both of these were purchased at my local Jo-Ann's. I used quite a bit of silk organza to give support as I made my dress as well. I have never used silk organza and it is very nice! I used it on pieces that I thought needed a little extra strength, like in the strapless bodice, and to underline my lace overlay. I purchased my silk organza from the Susan Kahlje store.

Silk Organza underlining

          I underlined my fabric, and used both cotton batiste and cotton voile. I used the voile, which is the more lightweight of the two, to underline the skirt, and the batiste to underline the strapless bodice. For the lining, I used a china silk lining fabric. It is very glossy and has lots of drape! All of these were bought from fabric.com

         For the underlay part of my dress, I knew I wanted a white satin fabric. I found this cotton/silk blend, which ended up working really well. The silk gives the fabric a beautiful sheen and texture, while the cotton makes working with it very manageable. I would definitely recommend this fabric and would enjoy using it again in other colors. 

Cotton/Silk Satin bodice

    Lastly, I purchased this lace for the overlay, also from fabric.com. I looked around quite a bit for the right lace, and am really happy with the one I selected. It is a nylon/cotton blend and has a really lovely pattern and a nice scalloped edge. 

Lace Scallops

Lace overlay

Unfortunately, my cat Peggy loves the fabric as much as I do. After I a few holes were found in my fabric, she was banned from my sewing area until the dress is complete. :)

Next, I will finally begin addressing the construction of the dress!