The return of Aunt Bonnie!

This post is long, long overdue. I started the draft weeks ago and much has transpired since then, but since I haven’t yet taken photos of my progress I’ll start at the beginning.

Aunt Bonnie asked me to make her another dress. You all remember Aunt Bonnie, right? My stunning, talented, and delightful aunt who sings for Tampa Bay’s Horn Band, Late Night Brass? She asked me to make her a gown for their performance at the Christmas party of one of the large law firms here in Tampa. It’s one of the most formal gigs they’ll perform this year. The men will all wear tuxes with gold bow ties. And Bonnie as the lone gal on stage thought a gold gown was in order.

We started talking about her gold dress back in May, contemplating what pattern might workand what detail work would make the gown really POP. We settled on Vogue 3830, and, with the great advance planning, Bonnie was able to snag the pattern on sale back in June(?). We bought our fabric in July. And now it’s November and things are nearing completion (though I haven’t spent all of the past 3 1/2 months working on this dress; much of that time was spent sewing bras and other fun stuff).

Here’s the pattern envelope for Vogue 3830. For a change, we’re actually making the dress as the pattern intended (for the most part anyway), in View B. The empire waist is a great look for Bonnie, and the cut of this dress over all is very much her style. The back (below) cuts away except for a narrow band, so it’s a bit showier than the other dresses we’ve made, which is very much in keeping with the formal nature of this event.

Now the big busted seamstress in me looks at a stunning but narrow-strapped gown like this and thinks “we need to add some support.” And since I was merrily sewing up bra after bra while we were planning this, and since that band across the back even looks reminiscent of a bra, I suggested we sew a bra right into the dress, custom sized to fit the dress dimensions, custom dyed to match, and far more supportive than the dress on its own would be.

Bonnie agreed, and I got to put my bra-cloning skills to work again, making a draft bra (the stunning purple shown below) cloned from one of her well-fitting favorites. I wanted to be sure I had the fit of the bra right before making the gold bra, because, unlike several bras I’ve posted here before with contrasting black elastics and trims, the gold bra would have custom dyed-to-match gold elastics. And I didn’t want to dye twice. So here’s the original and test bras:

And that brings you up to speed with my progress as of about a month ago.

In the time since then, Bonnie has learned that Late Night Brass will play two formal charity balls this November, which pushed our time frame up from the first week of December to this coming Saturday. And also in that time, I have learned how very, very, very time consuming beadwork is. The endless sewing has kept me busy and I blame my enthusiasm as a seamstress for my slacking as a blogger. But photos, descriptions of my process, and many more posts will follow soon!

I hope.

It’s a hit!

My Aunt Bonnie sent me an email to let me know, she finally had the opportunity to wear her white dress to a gig with Late Night Brass at the Gulfport Casino Ballroom, and she got a great reaction! When she first arrived, someone literally said “wow!” And she received several more compliments through the evening. I’m so delighted to know it worked well for her!

Coming soon…

Now that Bonnie’s white dress is finished, I have a whole assortment of “next” projects in mind.  (Oh, and yes, she came over yesterday to pick up the dress and to let us take some better photos, which are coming soon, but not right this second).

I’ve just started a few reusable grocery store bags, as a worthwhile use for some fabric I bought two years ago and have never used.  I have also promised to go ahead and finish the shirt my husband asked for a loooooong time ago (there are *several* reasons why I’ve procrastinated on this project, but I admit it’s time to bite the bullet and reward my sweetie for all the evenings he lets me all but ignore him in favor of my Singer).  And I’m going to make myself a few new garments for work.  It’s hot out and I want cooler, more comfortable garments.  I’m thinking of possibly starting with this:

I’ll post details and photos and all the rest as these projects move along.  And better photos of the white dress, too.

Note to self: don’t bleed on the dress

My aunt Bonnie came over this afternoon to try on the white dress – hooray!  Shortly before she came, Eva just begged to go pick blackberries in the back yard.  I always get scratched up to no end from the tiny hook shaped thorns on the blackberry bramble.  So despite a thorough handwashing, I didn’t notice that one finger was still bleeding slightly until I saw the BRIGHT red drops on Bonnie’s dress as I was attaching the hooks and eyes.

Thankfully, prompt application of hydrogen peroxide removed the stain *completely*.  We determined where the hooks and eyes should go on the neck strap, confirmed that one spot on the hem in the back needed to be straightened, and addressed the corset which was bunching slightly in the front.  All three minor issues have since been resolved and the dress is finished!

We took a few pictures when Bonnie was here this afternoon.  I hope to take better photos (with better lighting, where you can see the difference between white chiffon and white satin) soon but for the moment I will go ahead and post what I have.  Looking good, Grantie!  Looking good!

Ta-da!

I have been sewing all day (when I wasn’t running errands, which was also all day it feels) and Bonnie’s beautiful white dress is 99% complete – just a quick fitting and a few hooks and eyes to go.  Here are photos for you to admire!

And just in case she should get cold in the balmy Florida heat, there’s a cute little scarf to accompany it!

I’m off to bed.  More tomorrow!

Under Dress

I’ve been in an absolute frenzy the past few days but making so much wonderful progress!  I now am far enough along on my Aunt Bonnie’s white dress to have something worth showing. 

The photos below show the foundation for the corset and bodice, as well as one of the three skirt layers.  I debated sewing all three layers directly to the outer dress.  Instead, the two layers of chiffon will be attached to the outer dress and the lining is attached here.  This way the seams can face towards each other and a finished surface is what will face towards the body, which I imagine will be more comfortable.

In the outer dress the distinction between the corset and bust will be a bit more pronounced, as they’ll be made of different fabrics.  For the under dress, different fabric wasn’t necessary and the boning runs the full length to provide the best support.  Still I think you can really begin to see the shape this dress is taking!

Progress Report

Bonnie came over Thursday afternoon to try on the test corset.  It looks like a pretty much perfect fit!  I also showed her the skirt muslin and we talked about the design a little bit more; and I have a green light to continue as planned, no further modifications needed.  Hooray!

This has taken less time and tweaking than the first dress, which makes sense since it’s the second time I’ve sewn for my aunt Bonnie, and a bit more aware of the details to fitting for her.  It’s very nice to spend less time on the pattern and get to move on to the dress!

So, Thursday afternoon and Friday morning (my days off, by the way) I got to work on the actual fabric.  All that had arrived so far was the chiffon and the fabric lining.  I didn’t even have my nice quality thread to sew with.  I cut every single piece of lining and chiffon I would need, and pinned them all together, and had them waiting in a pile.

Finally, Friday afternoon a box with all my remaining items from JoAnn’s arrived (hooray!) and I was off in a frenzy sewing and serging and ironing.  I’ve made splendid progress.  All three layers of the skirt are sewn together, and the lining for the corset and bodice is all sewn.  I’ve also cut and pinned the first of 2 layers of satin for the corset and bodice, and will hopefully have time to sew that together this evening.

No photos yet… nothing was really to a point where I could put it up on the dress form.  But I’ll take some in the next day or two I’m sure.

More Muslin!

I put together a quick muslin for the skirt, using the final version of the pattern we made for Bonnie’s black and blue dress, sewn out of the diaper twill.  I did this for 2 purposes.  First, it allowed me to make sure that the top edge of the corset turned out right.  As you can see in the pics, it’s pretty much spot on perfect in the front!  In the back, the corset comes up a bit too high, and I’ve marked it accordingly so I can trim down the corset and pattern pieces.  The second goal for this skirt muslin, was to be able to trace the lower edge of the corset onto the dress skirt.  I will transfer these lines over to be able to make new pattern pieces for the skirt that will fit right onto the lower edge of the corset.

As a bonus, I can also see more of the final shape of the dress!  I really think it’s going to turn out beautifully.  On the dress form at least, I think point where the corset stops and the skirt begins is pretty much perfect.

Bonnie is coming this afternoon to try on the test corset.  I’m also just crossing my fingers and hoping that the rest of the fabric will arrive today!  If so, I can get into the *real* sewing.

Creating the Corset

I’ve started working on the corset for Bonnie’s White Dress.  I used McCall’s pattern 4109 (view C) as my starting point, primarily because I already owned this pattern.  M4109 is an overbust corset, and of course we had decided to create an underbust corset, but I figured this was fine since regardless of what pattern I started with, I was going to need to alter the top edge so that it matched the pattern pieces for the dress bodice.

I started by selecting the pattern size based on Bonnie’s waist measurement (since the bust part wouldn’t be used in the end), and I traced and cut the pattern pieces in their original shape and size.  I then cut and basted together a quick muslin, using leftover linen from my first 50’s dress (I needed something stiffer than my diaper twill, and this was the strudiest fabric I had on hand already that I could part with).  The result was a loose, baggy, and downright frumpy looking corset.  This is the second time I’ve used this pattern, and it turned out insanely loose the last time as well (though at the time I blamed myself and assumed I had miscalculated the figure modifications I made).  I will remember in the future that the pattern runs larger than I want, and base my sizing on the finished garment measurements rather than the size chart.

In addition to being too large overall, the corset also widened far too high above the hips (which actually makes sense, since Bonnie has a longer torso than most women her size and height).  So, I pulled out the seams and recut my pattern pieces and fabric to a smaller size, and also adjusted a bit for that extra fullness where we didn’t need it.  The result, shown here, was a corset that fit the dress form much better (though not yet perfectly).

I didn’t actually expect to get a perfect fit while the corset still stretched over the bust of my dress form, so I put off more detailed fit modifications until after reshaping the top of the corset.  To get a line that would match up with the dress bodice, I used the final version of our pattern for the black and blue dress and pinned it right on top of the corset, and traced the line right on to my muslin.  Then I picked apart the muslin once again and traced the new lines onto the pattern pieces, checked and double checked that I’d done it right, and recut the pattern pieces and fabric.  I transferred markings from the top part of the pattern pieces to the area below the cut.  And I sewed the whole muslin together a third time!

From there I got into nit picky fit adjustments.  It involved a lot of trial and error.  I sewed a zipper into the back of the corset so I could put it on my dress form correctly.  Then I put it on the dress form and fiddled around with it a bit (pulling the loose areas tighter along one of the pairs of seams or another) to decide where I wanted to take it in.  I took it off the dress form, took in the seams, put it back on, and checked it again.  I ripped out a few of the new seams, tried taking in different spots instead, until I got the fit I wanted.  Also, the original pattern had a very blunt curve to the waist in the front, and we want more of a pointed waistline.  I redrew the pattern front and middle front pieces to come down more, cut new fabric, ripped the old pieces out and sewed the new ones in.  And I altered the pattern a bit more after the point I was at when I took this last photo.  I also decided that I don’t want that front center seam, so I cut away the seam allowance from the pattern piece and marked it to be cut on the fold.

There are probably one or two more tweeks I’ll make to it, once Bonnie comes to try it on, but I believe it’s very nearly ready!  Just for kicks, here’s a comparison of the original pattern, and what I ended up with:

Bonnie’s White Dress: The Plan

When we first started talking about the all-white dress, Bonnie’s initial comment was just how unflattering white tends to be.  We all know dark colors are slimming, and white is … not.  Plus, bright whites tend to sort of wash a person out; there are very few skin tones that are truly flattered by white, and even those tend to look better in a color.

Still, I couldn’t help but think that brides pull it off every day!  Most of the girls and women walking down the aisle where bright white, and most of them look truly lovely.  So I spent a bit of time mulling the issue over.  Does the traditional construction of wedding gowns, with fully boned corset-style bodices and full skirts, successfully compensate for the not-so-slimming color?  Are the fabrics used in wedding gowns - satins, silks, brocades, lace and chiffon – more flattering than what we normally wear?  Are we just completely BRAINWASHED to believe that brides look beautiful, regardless of how true this might be?

I believe the answer to all three of these is “yes”.

So the bridal gown was my jumping off point for creating a design for Bonnie’s white dress.  If brides can pull it off, there’s no reason why Bonnie can’t.

DESIGN #1

This is the most bridal of my ideas for Bonnie’s dress.  As you can see, this basically looks like a bridal gown, cut short at the knee.  The idea was to work with a fully boned corset as the bodice, with a halter neckline since that’s flattering to Bonnie, and a full A-line skirt.  The entire dress would be made of white satin, and I thought that adding some floral lace appliques in an asymetrical pattern, sort of sweeping down from the waist to the hem on the opposite side of the dress, would add visual interest and have a slight slimming effect.  I’d specifically imagined looking for flowers that would compliment the Hawaiian shirts the men wear on these occasions, and thought the flowers could possibly be an accent color rather than just more white.

My concerns with this design, and the reasons I kept redesigning, were that the heavy satin fabric would be too formal next to men wearing white pants and pastel Hawaiian shirts.  The gown was really going to look like a bridal gown, and might not compliment them as well as another style might.  I was also aware that the satin would probably be HOT when Bonnie performs outdoor gigs, and I thought a lighter weight fabric might be preferable.

 

DESIGN #2

 I thought it might soften the dress, and make it just slightly less formal and also less likely to induce heat stroke, if we introduced some chiffon rather than making the entire gown in satin.  Design #2 is largely the same as the first, but with a softer, chiffon skirt.  I was still thinking of a full A-line skirt with plenty of body, so I thought about possibly layering the chiffon over a single layer of heavier fabric (tafetta perhaps?) or a few layers of tulle.  Since the whole halter neck corset bodice with tulle skirt was a bit too similar to the wedding dress my cousin plans to have someday (and no doubt influenced by Bonnie describing her daughter’s plans to me) I abandoned the halter neckline and switched to a simple sweatheart neckline, with sleeves.  I figured the chiffon would do nicely for the sleeves, and sketched out two different possible shapes.  I didn’t have the same feeling of “this won’t really work for the occasion” that I did with the first dress, but as I sketched out this design various modifications came to mind.  So on to the third design.

 

DESIGN #3

 Well this is scarcely different from my second design.  The biggest change, was to work with an underbust corset and separate bodice.  Looking at my first two sketches, I couldn’t help but feel that the overbust corset was going to be less flattering.  The empire waistline is so great on Bonnie, and an underbust corset could provide that same affect.  My second sleeve concept for the dress design #2 got me thinking about a dress with a bit of a Renaissance feel.  The underbust corset and 3/4 sleeves with flounces.  Again, I pictured satin for the corset, and softer chiffon (over a lightweight but not see through fabric) for the bodice and skirt.  I think the contrast there between the sleek satin and the chiffon would have a slimming affect too.

 

DESIGN #4

 This fourth design came to mind because, as I switched to the underbust design in my third dress, I kept mulling over Bonnie’s black and blue dress that had turned out so flattering.  Why not do it again?  This fourth dress would use the same pattern from her black and blue dress.  Rather than reinvent the wheel, we’d use a tried-and-true design, and also save time and money on patterns.  I pictured satin or taffeta for the bodice, and a double layer of chiffon over an opaque lining fabric.  I got the fabulous idea here to cut the chiffon on a bias, and take full advantage of the extra movement that would provide.  I thought having two layers, the top one cut slightly shorter than the bottom, with a lettuce edge would make the whole thing very soft and feminine.  I frankly fell in love with this one once I decided on the bias cut.  I pictured the skirt moving with Bonnie when she walked, and short of fluttering in the wind when she’s doing outdoor performances.  I also imagined that this would by far be the coolest and most comfortable for wearing outdoors in the Florida summer.

I showed Bonnie all four sketches, and we talked them over a bit.  Bonnie’s first reaction was that she loved Design #3 and thought it looked very romantic.  She also agreed that the halter neckline would be cooler.  So, the final call was to kind of blend the third and fourth designs.  Our plan is to use the same bodice and halter neckline from her Black and Blue Dress, made of satin with a soft layer of chiffon on top, a fully boned satin corset through her midriff, and the double layer bias cut chiffon for the skirt.  I think it’s going to look awesome!

That’s the plan!  I’m working on a muslin for the corset now, and I’ll post about that soon.