Wedding Dress Progress Post #3

Oh hey, it's Friday, which means it's time for another update on my progress with Elaine's wedding dress! Never mind that I missed a few Fridays in a row...anyway, here's what's happened:

Not too exciting, as it looks more or less
the same as it did before. But trust me,
it's a lot better. 

1) I finished hemming the skirt after Elaine tried it, but boy was that a long ordeal! Besides my not-so-brilliant-after-all gathering ribbon issue, there was the fact that (floor-length circle skirt + train) x 2 = what seemed like endless yards of hem. Especially since baby hemming really means sewing each hem twice. The good news, though, is that after that, hemming an A-line dress for myself felt like nothing! I'd originally planned to have the lace trim applied to the skirt by now, too, but the new lace I purchased on eBay seems to have been sent to the wrong address, so now I'm waiting on a new shipment. Let's hope this package gets here soon! 

2) I think I'm done fixing the lace overskirt -- the bustle/waterfall of lace in the back has all been tacked down and is more of less symmetrical, and closures have been attached in the form of two metal snaps. I'm not super worried about how the waistband looks, though, since it will be hidden under the corset. I also trimmed the cut edges to mimic the scalloped edge, cutting carefully around the floral elements to get a prettier edge. Thank goodness the net of the lace doesn't ravel. 

3) As for the corset, I finally got up the courage to tackle covering the busk. Having done a couple of fake corsets before, I was pretty comfortable (but still a little nervous, since this is for a wedding!) with sewing the panels together, but the idea of inserting a busk scares me for some reason. Maybe it's the fact that it requires sewing so close to the metal, and the potential for eye injury...at any rate, I decided to cover the busk in muslin first for practice (and for added strength). I'm happy to say that I escaped unscathed -- no eyeballs popped, no needles broken. Phew. 

So exciting! With many thanks to this helpful tutorial. 

Oh, were you wondering what that weird background was? It's my Carol poster! Here I am posing with my safety goggles (which I actually wore while sewing...yes, I'm a dork) and the safely covered busk. 

This isn't wedding dress related, but it's sewing-for-others related: my sister sent a picture of her wearing her lobster dress!

Doesn't she look great?? And in the spirit of honesty: she said the straps need to be shortened by about an inch, but that's an easy enough fix!

Lastly, many thanks to all of you who were so encouraging regarding the state of my sewing room! I'm glad I'm not the only one, because yes, those Pinterest boards of perfect cubbies and neatly folded and shelved fabrics can get really intimidating. In the interest of increased productivity (and being able to use my ironing board), I finally hung up the hats that had been living on the end of it. It took two minutes and I really should have done it long ago! 

L-R: Fenxi painting, pirate tricorn, Regency bonnet, and generic Ren Faire straw hat.