sketch week continues…

Ah…this dress was one of my favorites. Imported Alencon lace was used for the center-seamed, deep v bodice. i lined the bodice with a silk that took forever to find. i was going for a color that would fall somewhere between nude (ick!) and natural white, which was the color of the gown. i wanted the motifs in the lace to stand out a bit and have a lovely vintage flavor. The color i ended up using was like a very soft sand color….like the color of linen. That fabric was so beautiful! The skirt was just awesomeness to the touch. The bride wanted a very slinky feel with layers. We did a shiny silk charmeuse layer and self lining, then 2 layers of chiffon. That’s 4 layers all together. The skirts were light and weighty all at once. The word, sumptuous comes to mind. Yum. The top most layer of chiffon was the natural white, but the underlayer of chiffon  was in the linen/sand color. Oh man, the depth of creaminess that resulted was just dreamy. Dreamy creamy! i hand-stitched the scalloped edges along the neckline, backline and armhole openings which were sewn like like slit-openings on the side seam. See them in the sketch? i love tiny details like that. Everything about this dress was designed to elongate the body. Everything was based around long vertical lines and seams. i’m falling in love with it all over again. These dresses were like my babies! It was always difficult to send one out the door.

i’ve really been loving blogging about these designs this week. It makes me remember what i loved so much about sewing one-of-a-kind gowns. (sigh*)