Making the Dress: Part 1

Since I have decided to make my own wedding dress, I have gone through days where I am convinced I cannot do this. That my design is too complicated and I should simplify it just so I can be sure to make it well. But even with all the doubts I have about my ability to do this, I still stuck to my schedule and started making my wedding dress in October. It's now the 17th and the first portion of my dress is finished- the corselet.

When trying on wedding dresses I was pleased and surprised how a corset bodice helped my figure and made me feel really womanly and beautiful, so I knew that I needed to have something in my own wedding dress to help with that. Hours of research and countless image searches gave me a good visual of what I was going to be making. So I then started cutting fabric and draping it on Betsy (my dress form). Here's a picture journey of my corselet!

First layer draping and gathered

My dress will come a bit lower than I initially thought: but I like it now.

second layer added and sides stitched together.

Pinning my corset loops (It took AGES)

Double checking the layout

Boning added and pressed flat: it was curled most of the time I worked on this

Finished!

visual of the lacing (not what I'll use, I'm still making that part right now!)

Just a few things I learned along the way:

1. Boning is a pain in the butt. I had to cut it, burn the edges and sew it into the casing. Then I had to iron it all flat.

2. Handmade ribbon is taking way longer than I thought it would.

3. Draping on a mannequin is really hard for someone who has no experience draping.

4. I CAN do this.

I'm pretty happy with how this has turned out. There are a few things I would have done differently and there's still work to be done on this because I measured around the bottom of this and it's about 9 inches more than my hip measurement, which is where this will be hitting. I'll wait for a fitting and then I'll adjust after that point. Taking this in will be so much easier than letting it out.

So what do you think? Who thinks this will give me the curvy silhouette of my dreams? What do you think of my choice to not use plain white fabric for this project?