The woman who is making my dress flew into town yesterday from Illinois for my first dress fitting. It wasn't exactly what I expected but it was even better. Over my Christmas vacation I went and picked out all my fabrics and assumed that this trip I would trying on the first layer of the dress. Actually I tried on two pieces of muslin fabric - one piece for the bodice and one piece for the skirt. She explained that she didn't want to cut into my materials until we had the cut perfect so she pinned the muslin on my body exactly how I wanted it to look.
It was so cool - it really will be my very own "haute couture" dress that I've helped design that won't cost me half of the price of some designer dress off the hanger. She pinned the skirt on first and wanted to know exactly where I wanted the fall in the front, then the back and then how much I wanted it to come into my body and where I wanted it to start to relax toward the bottom.
Then I tried on the bodice and there were so many more decisions to make - dropped, true waist or empire waist? Sweetheart cut or a straight across chestline? And finally - tapered or straight across in the back? I had no idea what this process would be like and it's really overwhelming but I can't wait to see the finished product!
I can't believe we forgot to take pictures of me with the muslin draped across my body but I'm flying home in two weeks for the next fitting when she will actually have my materials cut for the first layer of my dress and I'll make sure to take pictures every step of the way after that. Not exactly DIY - I don't have the time, patience or certainly the talent to pull this off but I'm very fortunate to have a friend who does!
In the end I'm envisioning something like this...
It was so cool - it really will be my very own "haute couture" dress that I've helped design that won't cost me half of the price of some designer dress off the hanger. She pinned the skirt on first and wanted to know exactly where I wanted the fall in the front, then the back and then how much I wanted it to come into my body and where I wanted it to start to relax toward the bottom.
Then I tried on the bodice and there were so many more decisions to make - dropped, true waist or empire waist? Sweetheart cut or a straight across chestline? And finally - tapered or straight across in the back? I had no idea what this process would be like and it's really overwhelming but I can't wait to see the finished product!
I can't believe we forgot to take pictures of me with the muslin draped across my body but I'm flying home in two weeks for the next fitting when she will actually have my materials cut for the first layer of my dress and I'll make sure to take pictures every step of the way after that. Not exactly DIY - I don't have the time, patience or certainly the talent to pull this off but I'm very fortunate to have a friend who does!
In the end I'm envisioning something like this...
But without that much fall in the back
Or
Except in all lace materials
