Well...I'm exhausted...

I'm married! lol  Sorry I haven't posted in forever, but I was spending every spare minute working on my dress, and then the wedding happened, and then the honeymoon, and then I had to go back to work...grrr...  The dress didn't turn out how I had originally expected, but I'm very happy with the final result.  I ended up not doing full Victorian underwear due to time constraints, but that kinda turned out to be a good thing because I was able to stay cinched down the whole time without getting pressure points from crinkled fabric underneath my corset.  So, no chemise, drawers, or a corset cover.  Maybe I'll make some one of these days, but for right now, I'm never sewing again. lol

Prepare for major pic spam...

Anywho, so, I believe we left off with the petticoats...

Here's the skirt untrimmed...

TV202 - 1869 Grand Parlor Skirt
The main fabric is a cream coloured 100% cotton sateen, and the lining is the same cotton muslin that the petticoats are made of.  The hem is faced with the muslin and hand sewn down.  I extended the train about six inches, which was then extended a bit further by the ruffle applied later.


The overskirt untrimmed...

TV305 - Bustled Apron Overskirt
Same fabric as the skirt, and lined in back with off white netting to keep the poufs in shape.  I didn't line this one in muslin because I thought it would make it too heavy looking.  I was a little scared when I read the directions and it said that this was meant to go over the smaller bustle (TV101).  I asked on the Truly Victorian facebook page, and she said that it has a tendency to pull the skirts in at the knees, but since I had three petticoats I should be fine.  I erred on the side of caution and made it in the biggest size, which was a couple sizes larger than the skirt, and left out the side ties.  It wasn't quite as poofy as I wanted, so I ended up making a fairly large pillow that I attached to my bustle, which helped a lot.  It's not on in these two pictures, though.

The corset...

Pattern Link
This corset is made from an original pattern from the Victorian Era.  In the link, it's the fourth one titled 'Free Corset Patterns'.  I used this one...

I had to cut each panel down the middle and expand them, and I also had to make the bust and hips much larger to fit my curves.  I really should have made the hips even bigger, because I underestimated my gut. lol  But it's still incredibly comfortable.  It's made with two layers of off white twill, a spoon busk, and spiral and flat steel bones.

The bodice untrimmed...

TV400 - 1871 Day Bodice
Same fashion fabric as the skirt, interlined with off white twill, and lined with white muslin.  It's boned on all the seams except for the center back and front with spiral steel, and the buttons are covered with self fabric to match.  The buttons were a pain in the butt to cover, and open/close, but they were totally worth it...I love how they look.  For the sleeves, the pattern gives the option for either 3/4 or full length, but I wanted to add a ruffle and lace, so I cut it off to right above the elbow.

Sleeve detail...

This is same trim that is on the skirts except for the lace underneath and the bow...I love bows!  I was going to have them all over the dress, but decided that less is more.

Almost finished...

This was the first time I saw everything together and it made me cry.  It looked so much better than I had thought it would!  I have the bustle pillow on in this one, and I think it makes a world of difference in the silhouette...the overskirt poufs go up and out instead of out and down.  I had to put all of the petticoats and stuff on in order for my sister to pin the ruffle to the bottom of the skirt in front.  All of the trim was hand sewn on, which was incredibly time consuming, but worth it.  It's hard to see, but there's a self fabric ruffle, and then a row of insertion lace with a lace ruffle pre-attached, and then I put a thin cream ribbon beneath the insertion lace.  I was originally going to weave the ribbon in the lace, like you're supposed to, but it looked odd to me, so I just put it beneath, so that you could see the shininess showing through the holes.

After I applied the trim on the bottom of the skirt, I put a small ruffle along the neckline and sewed a rather large ribbon bow to the back of the overskirt waistband.

I also made my veil.  It's almost impossible to find an all lace veil these days...at least for less than several grand...which is more than my dress several times over. lol  So, I bought 3yds of lace and some trim and made it myself.  I cut the bottom in a curve and then hand sewed the trim to it.  It already had pretty sides, so the trim is just on the bottom, which gave it a little bit of weight.  Then I sewed the top to a barrette.

The photographer is still working on our pictures, so I only have the ones that other people took...please excuse the blurriness...

Lol...silly face...but it's a good pic of my dress and veil. :p

When I saw myself in the mirror, I felt like Queen Victoria...even though she was married 30+ years before this style. lol

My brother and grandfather walked me down the aisle.

My girls in yellow...I love yellow...

First dance.

Father/Daughter dance with my grandpa.

Ok, our photographer did give us one pic to show to everyone...the rest should be coming in a couple of weeks...

And here's a video of the ceremony if anyone's interested...please pardon all of the people walking in front of the camera...I don't think they realised it was there. lol