Bridal Project - Follow Along Part 2

After our fitting of the muslin, I took the mock-up dress apart, made the needed alterations, and used those altered pieces pattern for cutting the dupioni Carole selected for her dress.

Here is a snap of one of the alterations as I mark it on the fabric. The beauty of a muslin is that it is totally fine if you draw right on it with a sharpie. Hooray!

After all needed changes have been marked, the pieces are taken apart and ironed out. Then I review all my markings.

I make all the alterations, and then I lay out the pieces on the fashion fabric for cutting time. I must apologize for the washed-out nature of this photo - it's hard to amp up the contrast when you're shooting ivory on ivory!

Once the dress was assembled (unhemmed and sans embellishments), Carole popped by for another fitting. It fit her like a glove . . . but . . . 

We're rethinking the waistline. Even though things sometimes seem good in the muslin stage, there is always a chance that once the garment wearer sees the actual garment made out of the actual fabric, their mind changes. And that's totally ok! It's part of the process. There is a strong trend right now for fitted bodices to have a relatively high waist compared to recent years, but that doesn't mean it's for everyone. You want your client/friend/daughter/sister to feel confident and beautiful on her wedding day, and that means finding just the right fit that they can wear with ease.

The real lesson here is one of timing. We have been on this project early enough that re-working the bodice is not a dramatic event. We have plenty of time to cut a second bodice with a slightly lower waistline. 

So, for my next trick, I will make a new bodice!