The last few stitches!

A long time coming, I am now heading down the back ruffle of the gown the with the last of the large leaves down the overskirt.
I am SO thrilled, it looks amazing!
Here are some peaks at what it is looking like now. I will have photos of it completely done tomorrow.

Bustle, ruffle, and leaves on bodice and skirt


The little leaves are all sewn on to the bodice now


View of the bustle and ruffle. There will be about 20 - 25 additional leaves trailing down the edge of the ruffle.

Finally done tonight!! :-D

October 8th Updates

We are almost finished! I'm so thrilled!

We are now over the hump (bustle?) with a lot of the tedious figuring out, and have just a few things left to do.

Left to do: Pin up bustle, pleat underskirt, and sew on little leaves on the bodice and overskirt. It will finally be done in the next few days, definitely ready by the weekend.

I have been SO busy lately with Faire and various other things going on that I have fallen a little behind in the picture taking. Currently, I am at my parents house for the weekend, and have brought gown, dress form, and sewing machine to work on while I am away from home.

Here are some photos from yesterday.

Sleeve pleating detail

side of gown and underskirt. Please note that these are in progress shots and the underskirt has not been pleated yet, or the bustle drawn up. It will be in the final stage. :-)

Sleeve and gown detail, the start of the leaves have been pinned to the dress form to test.

Full view! I added my little Hendricks hat as I am working for them this weekend. It looks kinda cute in these pics!

The start of the leaves...I am actually really looking forward to this part!

UPDATES: We have a bustle!

The overskirt is almost finished! It has taken a longer time than expected to carefully drape and pin the front of the skirt in to the drape that flows into the back, which in turn becomes the waterfall bustle.
Here is what it looks like so far!

Once the final stitches have been made, it will be pressed so the pleats fall perfectly.
On to the leaves and underskirt!



The front of the skirt and drape have been sewn down, the bustle
is in the progress of being stitched.

Bustle in progress

Progress Update 9-3-2010

The bodice is done, and the zipper is in place and goes at a diagonal across the back and goes down and is hidden in the pleats of the side of the skirt.


The overskirt is now attached and ready for the draping and bustle!!





View of the hidden zipper.



Front gathering of sleeve detail

Mina Harker's Blood Red Gown

Back view of bodice, it is NOT bright fuscia!
It is a deep red, hard to make it accurate on film.


Close-up of pinned front skirt

It's coming together!
The skirt is just pinned in this photo, and the sleeves are made from the lining only, but it gives a good idea of what it is going to look like.

Looking more and more like Mina


JULY 24th, 2010:
The bodice is together as is the lining! It's really starting to come together!


Since this is going to be a massive and elaborate project, I have decided to keep a blog about it as it comes along in process. This is a custom order I am doing for a client, and I will be adding photos from each stage of the gown to completion.

Here's the first stage!

100% Silk Taffeta all the way from India!
I have to admit I was a little skeptical when I saw such a small package for the
amount of fabric that I ordered! But, it was all there!


That is some serious packing!


Close-up of the Fabric

Laying things out to be sewn

This and then some came out of that flat little package!

I am going to be adding photos of all of my projects as they are in progress to this blog.
Once they are completed, though, the gallery will be added to the main website.