Victorian Petticoat

 

Info on Pattern for Petticoat 

I just completed my first piece for the dress (not including the corset I had made a while back). The petticoat will go under the skirt and provide more volume and shape to the outfit. The extra room also makes it easy to insert a small pillow or bustle.

This is the first real clothing item I have ever sewn and i needed a lot of help with everything. It  is a good thing its underware though, considering all the near disasters I had putting it together Im not going to risk my final wedding pieces with these clumsy hands. I now officially turn this project over to Jillian. Heres looking to a finished dress by June (and the groom jacket and vest).

Hair!

Ive been trying to grow out my hair from a bob to nice and long for the wedding. One big reason for doing this is because my hair is fine and i have trouble pinning down my Victorian top hat when my hair is this short. Now I have less than a year to grow out my "crowning glory" . I went to the beauty supply store to look for some clip in extensions and i found the perfect piece marked down $50 off retail.
I clipped it in to test it out and i think it will be very doable, especially if i get a stylist on it. The only problem is that my hair is currently straight and the piece is wavy, but i plan on perming my hair for the wedding so everything should jive just fine.

Revisiting my Colors

Color by COLOURlovers

Well, these are my new wedding colors based off my new dress fabric and the news that my MIL will be supplying a large amount of lavender bouquets for the wedding.

Fabric!

So I finally found it: a rosy tinted ivory brocade with gold, silver, and brown embellishments. I will use it on my jacket and train (about 8 yards of the stuff). The skirt and accents will be ivory and gold. A little different from my original vision but I think I like the fact that the dress is leaning more towards non-traditional, though colorful dresses were quite popular in The Victorian Days. In fact, it wasn't until Queen Victoria had her wedding that white dresses became all the rage.

Anyways, found this little delight in Berkley at the discount fabric store, my friend was observant enough to pull it out of a big pile and show it to me while i was in the white section obsessing over the fact that there is no good ivory brocades. The fabric was also a great deal, about half as much as Id expect it to be.

Everything else will come from Joannes fabrics, so all in all i will probably spend under $200 on the whole lot of fabric. But this does not yet include lace and embellishments.

Dress Revisions again

A modified vest basque jacket with detachable butterfly train over fore gore skirt and apron.

Notice shorter sleeves and removal of closure at collar.

Alum Rock Park

Well, Ive finally booked my wedding site for both ceremony and reception. After much consideration we settled on Alum Rock Park, more specifically Sycamore Groove Picnic grounds.  At the very top of the hill, at the end of the parking lot there is a paved hiking trail. For a few hundred feet you follow a small winding creek decorated with little stone bridges.

Past the small hotsprings there is a shady little picnic site on a patch of grass. Before you walk into the site there lies the stone bridge that will set our ceremony. From the top you can see all the little hot spring arches but the smell is not apprent unless your right up next to the wells.

3 BBQ pits and enough seating for 75 people this site is perfect for our small low budget wedding. Strangely enough the park's pamphlet claims they do not allow weddings (but large company functions and parties are fine). After talking with the Ranger we got the OK for our event, but im not sure why they would have this rule, Maybe they are afraid people will throw rice and hurt the wildlife.

 

 

More wedding dress designs

Notes, notes, and more notes! I'm still working on designing this dress, but everything will be decided upon by the new year. In fact i already have made changes on this and ordered a new skirt and train pattern which i will follow up with soon. The new inspiration is Winona Ryder"s London dress from Bram Stoker's Dracula. An odd source to say the least but the beautiful design of her dress really stuck with me.

Anyways, this is a style guide that i sent my dress maker and i already have gotten some great feedback from her. I can't wait to buy my fabric for this.