Let’s face it ~ this month it’s all about the fabric! Upon accepting the Mood Sewing Network lace challenge, I decided to use a lace that I’ve never sewn with before. I’ve made a few lace garments in the past, even using an embellished lace in an evening gown but never a piece of lace as beautiful and awesome as this guipure.
I chose the guipure because I wanted to interpret a designer dress and it featured the prettiest lace on the bodice of the dress. So after choosing my guipure, I headed upstairs to the third floor of Mood Fabrics NYC to pair it with a wool tweed.
Even though this wool tweed has a bit of a sparkle in it, I knew it was perfect for this dress especially since the designer inspired piece is also a little on the dressy side. This dress is the cornerstone of my Easter outfit, and I think the fabrics make my version of the dress sing.
Because it’s guipure, I wanted to take care with the construction details so the dress consists of four layers ~ guipure lace (laces available from Mood Fabrics online here) on the dress front…wool tweed for the dress…it was underlined in a taupe silk organza…and lined with a peach silk charmeuse.
All of the construction posts can be found here because making this dress was a journey ~ a really extensive journey. There was approximately 25-
hours of hand stitching in this dress. There is almost a spool of thread used to hand stitch the lace to the wool tweed and I used a needle and thread so much more than I did my sewing machine. However, all of the work was worth it, because it is an amazing dress than doesn’t photograph as well as it looks in real life.
So let the photo montage speak…
A few close-ups of the dress
A close up of the middle of the dress so that you can see it with the belt
and how the lace forms around the dress.
Finally a pic of the bottom of the lace edging and the dress hemline.
I wanted to make a special dress for Easter. I also wanted to reproduce a designer dress that would work for this occasion. I think I’ve accomplished the challenge of working with a “new to me” lace and stepping out of my comfort zone to create a very special garment.
