The dress for Epona’s maid of honour (AKA my Stylish sister-in-law) is at the finishing touches. A bit of hemming and hand-stitching and a lot of pressing remain, but the all-important try-on stage has been reached.
Yeah, that’s obviously not Stylish modeling it for these crappy bathroom mirror pics. That’s just me. We are roughly the same size on the top half—I think my shoulders are broader, and her waist is narrower, but neither of those are really issues in this dress. There’s a bit more ease in the skirt than I can fill out, of course. I still think it looks pretty good, better in real life than in the pics. Much better than my attempted pre-zip try on. What is it about a zipper that just pulls everything together?
Thank you everyone who weighed in on the chiffon hems the other day—you inspired me to wind up some bobbins and give a proper serger rolled hem a try. It worked like a charm, allowing for the usual sampling. Aside from the part where I realized the grey thread I was using wasn’t actually the grey I bought to match the fabric, but another, rather lighter, one that had been kicking around from some other project. Oopsie. I’m still debating on the beaded trim… it’s gorgeous, but really heavy compared to the chiffon.
Of course, once I finish this, the real terror begins. The lace for the wedding dress (which will be an overlay over the skirt, much like the chiffon in the maid of honour’s dress) has arrived. Can you say “Ulp?” It’s heavy, luxe, and beaded all to hell. I am terrified.
Tanit-Isis Sews 
You’ll be fine. Just don’t try and multi-task too much (that’s the only advice I have from sewing my own wedding dress).
Love what you’ve done on the maid of honour dress too! Better than the Chinese knock-offs I keep seeing at the weddings of acquaintances – made with love and also some real skill 🙂
Ulp.
Love the Stylish dress. Wonder if you’ll go with trim or not anyway ….
Looks great! The wedding is going to look really pretty with all your stitching!
For the beaded fabric, you will need to crush the beading out of the area you are stitching through. You can do that with a hammer (put a piece of scrap fabric over the area you are pounding) or for a more precise one-bead-at-a-time removal, you can use pliers. The goal is the crunch the beads without breaking the threads so you don’t keep losing all the other beads down the line.
Here’s a photo example when I recently had to do this. It’s nothing to be afraid of – just something you have to treat a little differently. =)
Brooke, that’s the advice I needed a month ago! Well, at least now I know for future reference.
I do like the look of that beading, though — I hope you use it!
That lace is amazing… and terrifying! May the force be with you! 🙂
looking good! i would be more than a little afraid of ruining that lovely beaded lace as well, but i’m sure you’ll do a great job! re: beaded trim… if it’s too heavy for the hem of the chiffon, what about hand stitching it to the waistline? good luck!
If you are going to be smashing beads, then do take into account that you will have glass bits and powder to contend with; you may want to keep a vacuum cleaner handy and do it all in a place where glass bits won’t embed themselves, like carpet!
Pretty, pretty. I love the chiffon. I’d be scared of the wedding dress beading too, but I’m sure you’re up to the challenge. Remember to breathe!
Wow, that beaded chiffon is stunning!!!!!! I’d be terrified to cut into it too, and would probably just rub it while saying “Precious” over and over….
And the dress looks great! 🙂
The dress is gorgeous!! And can’t wait to see the beaded wedding dress in action!
The dress is beautiful and I’m drooling over the beaded lace. I’m sending you positive thoughts right now–I’d be too terrified to cut it–but I know you can do it. The final dress is going to be beautiful!
Brooke left some great advise… although… you could just unpick the beads from the edge out… thus leaving yourself empty seam allowances, and then tie off the threads. Been there done that!!! It’s beautiful.
Congratulations on getting this far with the dress, it looks great! I do love a mullet hem, so much. Oh, I’m so excited about the finished dresses!
And as for that beaded fabric? All I’m gonna say is holy crap! It’s beautiful! And terrifying! Good luck.