What's A Princess?

It doesn't matter how many new and different sewing projects I delve into, I learn something new every time, and I love that about sewing. Kelly and I are finally going to be Disney Princesses for Halloween. I say finally because I've had my fabric to make a Snow White costume since probably some time in the late 90's! And I've been holding on to an awesome out-of-print (OOP) Cinderella pattern that I've been dying to make for Kelly for almost as long. Our costumes aren't a secret this year. At least I don't think... (sorry Smelly!)

Anyway, in the process of starting my Snow White costume I have learned SO MUCH about fitting a formal dress to make an ordinary chick look like a princess. I've taken our Halloween costume construction as an opportunity to practice some new techniques I've been reading about for making formal dresses, specifically bridal couture. Now, in now way can I call myself a couturier, but I love reading about couture techniques and trying to learn some of them. It's amazing what a difference a little extra hand stitching and careful planning can do for a garment.

For a couple months I've been kinda thinking about my game plan for the construction of my wedding dress. I've read through lots of blogs, and looked through some wedding gown forums on pattern review. It seems that everyone is using Susan Khalje's book "Bridal Couture", so I had to buy it. I also bought a book by Susan Andriks about making the wedding dress of your dreams (I don't remember the actual title). This pair of books is all anyone needs to make beautiful formal gowns. They're both full of information, and each fills in any gaps the other may have left open.

I was able to use some techniques I learned from each book already in fitting my Snow White dress. I also learned a new interlining/corsellette method, and it all went together flawlessly!

I've heard style and fashion gurus make statements about how a well fitting garment makes any woman look beautiful, but I always thought "yeah, everyone but me". Yes, it's true, Stacy and Clinton do know what they're talking about. As soon as I got the bodice all boned up and lined I was able to just hold it up to myself and see the princess shape! AMAZING!

Now I can't wait to get started on Kelly's, and I feel totally confident that I'll be able to put together a gorgeous wedding dress for myself (even though I don't have a pattern).

Also, I found this blog that I thought was really interesting: Drawing Women