Dupion silk dress

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Instructions

I used Vogue pattern 1102 to make this dress. I altered the pattern a little

I raised the back of the dress opening quite a lot, it felt a bit too low and a bit exposed for a wedding. I shortened the dress. The armhole was gaping in the front so I transferred the fullness and created a second bust dart under the arm.

To prevent the dip at the back of the bodice from riding up I made the bodice go all the way to my waist and the skirt is then sewn to the bodice in the same place that the pattern has it. You can see the basting for the stitching line to attach the skirt in the photo on my dressform. The lower basted line is my waistline which ended up being the bottom edge of the bodice.

I constructed the bow on the back as separate components (shoulder strap, bow loops and ends and a small loop to hold all the pieces together) and assembled them permanently as the bow doesn't need to be untied to get in and out of the dress. I got the bow looking just right and stitched it all in place permanently. The pattern has two long ties which need to be tied together but I didn't think that would look good enough so I didn't use them. I used Vogue pattern 1102 to make this dress. I altered the pattern a little

I raised the back of the dress opening quite a lot, it felt a bit too low and a bit exposed for a wedding. I shortened the dress. The armhole was gaping in the front so I transferred the fullness and created a second bust dart under the arm.

To prevent the dip at the back of the bodice from ...
Read full instructions »

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Difficulty:

Category: Sewing

Type of item: Clothing

For: Women

Style: Formal / Bridal, Classic

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Materials

Teal dupion silk, silk organza underlining, silk crepe de chine lining

What was your inspiration?

I was inspired by the event I was making the dress for, which was my partner's daughter's wedding. It's been a long time since I've been to a wedding and not been involved in making or altering the bride's dress. Normally I don't have time to make anything for myself to wear and I saw the opportunity to make something really special for myself this time.

Susan's couture course was very inspiring. I subscribed to the course after I had got the pattern for this dress and the outer fabric and I was so impressed I decided to use these techniques to make my dress as special as possible, particularly as I was using a beautiful expensive silk and it seemed the right kind of project to use couture techniques for.

What are you most proud of?

I'm proud I managed to stick with it and finish it. I was a massive job and I only had an hour and a half sleep on the night before the wedding because I was working solidly through the night to complete it.

I'm also very pleased that it fits like a glove, the open back is a perfect close fit and doesn't gape at all and that's due to the careful fitting of the muslin

What advice would you give someone starting this project?

Manage your time better than I did. It took much much longer than sewing something with standard techniques but it was a very enjoyable process.

This dress needs extremely careful fitting so that the back doesn't gape. I did two muslins for the bodice because I made so many alterations to the first one I wanted to cut a second off it just to make sure that it was going to fit perfectly