A Vintage Lace Dress

My sister in-law recently asked me to create a dress for her reception. She wanted a vintage style lace wiggle dress. The first step was finding a good pattern that had all the elements that she wanted. She wanted it to have 3/4 sleeves, fall just below the knee, have a somewhat slim fit, and have a slightly rounded neck. We tried two. When working with vintage patterns it's always a good idea to go up a size or two. They tend to run a little small. We ended up going with a vintage simplicity pattern number 4676, but passed on the side seam and falling ruffles.

To find out whether or not we had a good general fit I created a muslin. I didn't do any of the finishing work or even stitch the back together where the zipper will go. The first fitting was just meant to get a general idea of how the pattern worked with her body.

Here's how it went.

As you can see it is a very rough cut. We decided to tweak the dress just a bit. We are changing the front gathers to pleats, running the front neck line just a little lower, and changing the back to a V shaped neck line. You can see all the messy pinning :)

The next step was to find some quality fabric which proved to be a little harder than I though it should be :). We ended up finding a delightful little place called Tissú Fine Fabrics and Design Gallery. It is operated by a wonderful lady named Theresa who was extremely helpful! Thank you Theresa! Here is what we ended up going with. I think it is beautiful!

The color isn't great in the picture, but man it is beautiful in person! The lace is an off white, and we ended up going with an off white satin that has just a bit more color to it. I think it makes the whole thing look richer and gives it that vintagy feel. We were also able to find some lining to put on the inside of the dress. Theresa was very helpful in answering questions on care for the fabric and even showed me a few tricks! I can't wait to see the finished product.

The Next step is to make a new muslin with all the finishing work and the changes we agreed on. Wish me luck!

Click the link below to see the finished dress. It was a beautiful wedding day!
Lavender and Lace
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