When the skirt and bodice were completed, I attached them at the waist. Once this was complete I had fun finishing the dress and doing plenty of hand stitching. With only 5 days until the wedding at this point, my dress has been finished for about a month now, but I was almost sad to be done with it. I was glad that it was done in time for the wedding, but really enjoyed sewing it (and had been working on it for so long) and was bummed I wouldn't be able to work on it anymore. I guess I just need to find an event to make another gown for :) Below I have included some pictures of the finished garment inside and out.
I added some hanging loops to the waist. This part took me a while to figure out because of the lining. I didn't want to attach the loops to the lining because the lining was not attached to the main fabric of the dress which meant that the loops wouldn't really be hanging the dress and just the lining, which obviously wouldn't work. There is probably a much better way to go about this but here is what I did-- I attached my ribbon loops at the waist seam, and then made button holes in the lining and threaded the loops through the button holes so that they were functional and present on the inside of the dress.
Here is a finished picture of the back-waist closure as described here.
I did a lapped, metal zipper to keep the dress more authentic. Plus I just like doing lapped zippers and I find metal zippers to be more reliable. I did some research on quality zippers (all of my zippers have come from garage sales and thrift stores) and ended up buying my zipper from YKK. I wasn't able to find a white metal zipper so I just got this silver one, which is fine but sometimes when I move a certain way the silver peeks through. Oh well, I guess. This happens on my RTW vintage dresses also. Once I had the zipper in I slip stitched the lining to the zipper.
I found these buttons at JoAnn's and sewed them to the lapped zip portion of the back of the dress. I think they are really pretty and remind me of pearl buttons. I need to count but I think I used about 35 buttons.
I finished the neckline by using a narrow strip of organza. Underneath that strip of organza, I layered small strips of organza cut on the straight grain. I knew that the curved parts of the neckline would want to stretch, so to combat any stretching I used this technique described by Gertie here.
I debated over how to deal with how the yoke attaches to the skirt. I think it would have looked fine if I had left it, but I wanted to make that line a little more prominent so I used some of my border scallop to enhance that seam line. I really like the way it turned out!
Here is a not so great picture of the dress from above. At this point it doesn't fit on my dress form (My dress form has huge shoulders!) So I keep it wrapped in an old white sheet, another helpful tip from Bridal Couture.
Another detail that I hemmed and hawed about was the belt. For a while, I wanted to use some sparkly, pearl trim that I had found to make the belt. After I tested out this look I knew it didn't look right for my dress. It was a bit too showy and the silvery parts of it took away from the whiteness of my dress. I thought for a while about not having a belt, but there are a few wrinkles at the back waist (I think I should have shortened the waist a little bit more) that would be easily disguised by a belt, plus I just like the look of a cinched in waist. I settled on making a thin belt from my fashion fabric. The belt itself I made with my cotton/silk satin and interfacing. It closes at the back with a hook and eye. Then, I cut out five flower shapes from my lace and stitched them to the middle of the belt, which will be the front of the dress, when worn. I'm happy with how the belt turned out, and like that it gives me a little cinch without taking away from the dress.
After the wedding I plan to post some pictures of the dress in action so stay tuned! :)
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