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From: Scratch 'N Sniff
Date: 12-06-2005, 01:08 AM (1 of 16)
Hi all. I'm working on my wedding dress and I want to put in a godet to make a mermaid train similar to this:  My question is how big should I make the godet? I was assumming I'd just use a semi-circle, but will that make it train out the right length? In other words, should I use a half-oval rather than a half-circle? Anyone have experience with this? Second question: the train will actually be part of the chiffon overdress. I was going to do all french seams, but how could i do both godet seams and the center-back seam without having to put a seam in the middle of my godet? All suggestions appreciated! ~debie
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User: Scratch 'N Sniff
Member since: 01-02-2003 Total posts: 46 |
From: paroper
Date: 12-06-2005, 07:09 AM (2 of 16)
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The godet will look something like a wide ice cream cone with a lot of ice cream. If you just make it like a semi circle or circle, it will not extend enough. The back and the side of the garment usually expands (lengthwise) to accomidate the additional length in the back with a gentle slope. You start by lengthening the dress slightly at the side and it continues in the back so that when you get to the godet, there is legnth to join the godet. If you look at the picture carefully I think that you can see that there is extra length at the side of the dress beyond the godet itself. As for the French seam, I add the unsewn back seam to one side of the godet. When you do that, I think I would French seam that side of the godet where it joins. Then, when you add the other side of the seam to the godet, you'll be sewing the back seam and the godet all the way down. At that point I would do the French seam down the center back and continue the seam through the other side of the godet junction to the hem. pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
From: AndreaSews
Date: 12-06-2005, 09:52 AM (3 of 16)
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Debie, it is a stunning design! ('fraid that's all I can offer!)
Andrea
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User: AndreaSews
Member since: 02-18-2005 Total posts: 1007 
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From: Scratch 'N Sniff
Date: 12-07-2005, 01:13 AM (4 of 16)
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thanks paroper, i was thinking i'd have to lengthen the skirt side panels. would you suggest a circle or half circle godet for the amount of fullness that is in that skirt? fullness seems to be my main problem right now, getting it where i want it and not where i don't! I love this skirt because the front probably looks just like a sheath gown, all the fabric is in the back. i think I get what you're saying about the seams, I'll have to test that on some scrap first. I think I'll make up a 1/4 scale replica or something, just so I know it works. andrea: yes, it is stunning! I wish i could pull off this dress! Mine will be higher in the back and have one layer of satin (no train) covered by a layer of chiffon (with the train). The front will have an asymmetrical gather/drape hiding a zipper at the side seam. I'm debating on fake lacing for the back, just to give the "audience" something to stare at during the ceremony! ~debie
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User: Scratch 'N Sniff
Member since: 01-02-2003 Total posts: 46 |
From: bridesmom
Date: 12-07-2005, 05:04 AM (5 of 16)
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Totally beautiful dress, and brave you! What about a row of seed pearls sewn on to look like a row of buttons going up the back - or even a row of crystal beads? Are you going to bead the dress as well??
Laura
Tickled pink with my Innovis 4000D |
User: bridesmom
Member since: 01-21-2004 Total posts: 2026 |
From: paroper
Date: 12-07-2005, 05:22 AM (6 of 16)
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I'm not sure as to how round it is. I think that I'd start with half circle and see if you need a full circle. I think that one of your problems is going to be how to get it long enough and wide enough without adding seams. Another problem I see is trying to figure out where the straight of grain is on this pattern. If the straight of grain is at the seams and it drapes in the middle or if the straight of grain is at the seams and it drapes at the sides. If the dress is a full circle, it could drape at the sides and the middle. They may have seams to widen the dress under the lace. I'd take a magnifying glass to this thing and see if I can figure out where they pieced it because it could be cross cut with a seam going across the bottom hidden by lace. I think that it is longer or wider than 45 inches. I don't know if you could get all of that in 60 inch fabric or not or if you could find chiffon that was 60 inches wide. Of course, it could be that the entire bottom of the dress is not applied lace but that it just "becomes lace" that is sewn into the garment, not on the garment. When I was working on my daughter (non) wedding dress (she backed out 10 days before the wedding), I made it up in a material quite like the fabric it would be made from to make sure that I had it all right. I did all the fitting and draping with that fabric. That would be my recommendation for this one. pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
From: Scratch 'N Sniff
Date: 12-07-2005, 10:17 AM (7 of 16)
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Bridesmom: I don't know about beading, it seems like it would take forever! I'm thinking of doing small lace appliques around the neckline (halter) and then perhaps around the edge of the chiffon overdress. I don't want the sheer chiffon to be invisible in the sand (beach wedding). paroper: thanks again for your input. I think I'll make up the satin underdress and baste that together, then drape the chiffon to see how it lies. The shop I go to has 54" wide chiffon. Perhaps if I used the full width but started slightly lower down? This would still give me about a 5' train (from the waist). I think that's the chapel train, but i'm not sure. ~debie
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User: Scratch 'N Sniff
Member since: 01-02-2003 Total posts: 46 |
From: paroper
Date: 12-07-2005, 09:22 PM (8 of 16)
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I highly recommend beading the dress. YOu'll be amazed how fast it will go and how cheap it will be. When I started beading my daughter's dress I thought I had made a mistake...believe me....it was beautiful! You don't have to bead every inch. Do what you think you can handle in a small amount of time. You can always add more.
pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
From: Scratch 'N Sniff
Date: 12-07-2005, 09:34 PM (9 of 16)
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Is it really that quick? I'm so worried about starting the beading and then not finishing or having to rip the beading stitches out. Should I do it right on the satin or do it on an sheer and then applique that to the satin? I've never tried beading so I'm kinda worried about mistakes.
~debie
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User: Scratch 'N Sniff
Member since: 01-02-2003 Total posts: 46 |
From: paroper
Date: 12-08-2005, 04:50 AM (10 of 16)
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This is our dress, http://store.sewingtoday.com/cgi-bin/voguepatterns/shop.cgi?s.item.V2720=x&TI=20003&page=7 My daughter chose an expensive satin that had motifs already embroidered upon it. I used about 40 beads per motif. It took me about 3 days to bead the fabric after it was cut out. It took me about 5 days total to make the dress. We purchased the entire bolt of the fabric for the dress but there was only enough left to make her dress, not her train. There was a compainion satin that we purchased. Because her dress had motifs already on the dress and the way the dress was laid out (back dress piece was part of the sleeve too). The sleeve had a seam extending from the shoulder also. I couldn't get a motif in the center of the hand, no matter what I did. I ended up buying a lovely inexpensive braid trim which extended around the hand, under the garment and within about 3 inches of the elbow. I heavily beaded the braid trim after it was applied. The dress had a total of 36 buttons and loops on the sleeves. The sleeves ended up being my favorite part of the dress. I digitized the motifs of the dress fabric, spinning them and pulling them together tightly. I used a giant hoop it all and did 3 a full 3 sections of the hoop to embroder each side of the train. It extended downward in a chevron effect but I placed the satin on an angle to get it all on the hoop. It was about 23 inches long on each side and at the widest part (center) it was about 14 inches wide. It took about 4 hours to machine embroider the entire train. The train embroidery was quite dense and I heavily beaded it. I did several tries on the train in test satin before I actually did the embroidery. There were also two large motifs in the corners of the dress. It took me right at 2 weeks to do the entire train, cut out, digitize, embroider, bead and assemble. Of course, we could have purchased the motifs individually beaded and ready to apply (large and small) for a "lotta" dollars. However, I purchased my fabrics in a specialized bridal/evenwear fabric shop. They had lovely laces applied close together, but individually placed on a backing that could have been cut apart and applied with little effort. THese were almost entirely beaded and beautiful and sold for prices upward from $27.00 per yard. They were roughly 22 inches in width. My favorite was $54.00 a yard and with about 2-2 1/2 yards we could have generouly beaded her entire dress. She had just fallen in love with this great embroidered fabric and because of the "weight" of the embroidery, we couldn't find a motif that seemed to fit it. I always do a muslin of any dress I do in expensive fabric. In this case, the muslin was actually inexpensive satin. I was really glad in this case that I did that. I ended up making and remaking the top 3 times to get a proper fit at the top. The way that it was put together, I didn't have a lot of room for error or to make alterations. The assembly of this particular dress was much different than anything that I had ever done. pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
From: MaryW
Date: 12-08-2005, 06:56 AM (11 of 16)
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Beautiful dresses, both of them.
MaryW
owner/editor of Sew Whats New |
User: MaryW
Member since: 06-23-2005 Total posts: 2542 
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From: bridesmom
Date: 12-08-2005, 07:40 AM (12 of 16)
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I made my daughters dress which was organza over satin. I beaded the bodice front and back as well as the swag which went across the front. The beading wasn't bad to do at all. It was random beading that was quite heavy at the top of the bodice that decreased as I moved down (does that make any sense???) I tried it out a few times on some sample swatches and asked lots of questions (That's actually how I found this website - the wonderful people here got me on the right track) I did two types of beading, one that was through both the organza and satin, so I could run the thread on the inside, then I had a lining that went overtop all that so she didn't catch any threads when putting on the dress. The second method was individually sewing each bead on the organza swag which was definitely more time consuming. I did try glueing on a sample, and that didn't work at all. Even though I was terrified before I started it, once I got going at it, it probably took 5 hours in total (over a few days) and she was thrilled with it. Laura
Tickled pink with my Innovis 4000D |
User: bridesmom
Member since: 01-21-2004 Total posts: 2026 |
From: Scratch 'N Sniff
Date: 12-08-2005, 08:18 AM (13 of 16)
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paroper: it's a gorgeous dress! congrats! I've seen those laces for applique that you talk about, that's how I originally was planning on decorating the bodice: using say 1/2 yard and cutting out individual motifs. I did both a muslin and a "test dress" in leftover satin to get the shape of the dress and I'm quite happy with it. I didn't have enough chiffon to test the entire godet, which is why I asked. bridesmom: do you have pics of your daughter's dress? I love the way you describe the beading, it sounds like a dress I tried on at David's Bridal. I'll definitely have to pick up some beads and practice. Are the ones they sell in those little packages at regular craft stores good enough or is there a special type for bridal fabrics? Can it be pressed/steam/dry cleaned after beading? You sound like you did the first method (beading through both layers and cover with lining). Does this mean you fully beaded before attaching the lining? I'm just trying to think in order of construction. Thanks again both of you!! ~debie
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User: Scratch 'N Sniff
Member since: 01-02-2003 Total posts: 46 |
From: paroper
Date: 12-08-2005, 07:28 PM (14 of 16)
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I don't know about Bridesmom but I finished all my edges so that I wouldn't fray they from handling and I laid down clean white sheets everywhere and I beaded before sewing, except in the seamlines. When I did the train, I rough cut the train and finished those seams, embroidered, beaded, and then I recut the train to size. (Embroidery "shrinks the garment").
pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
From: bridesmom
Date: 12-09-2005, 05:03 AM (15 of 16)
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I have some pictures under bridal sewing forum, but they don't really show the beading in really close up detail. We copied a dress from Maggie Sottero that she loved. I did my beading after the dress was completely finished except for hand sewing the lining in the bodice. The lining was attached but only at the neck, it was a strapless dress, I'll see if I can find a link to the picture of the dress. I also laid out a white top sheet over the table before laying the dress out to bead. I used Austrian crystals and some other crystal beads from Micheals and a little local bead store here. The dress is completely washable, though a few beads did fall off after washing it once she wore it. I didn't buy plastic beads they were all glass. Pressing it afterwards wasn't hard to do, I used a towel over it and mostly steamed it. http://www.maggiesottero.com/catalog/window.php?169. The picture doesn't show the beading close up but it is inverted v's of different lengths all along the top front and back, and also v's from the waist out across the swag. Laura
Tickled pink with my Innovis 4000D |
User: bridesmom
Member since: 01-21-2004 Total posts: 2026 |
From: bridesmom
Date: 12-09-2005, 05:08 AM (16 of 16)
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I just realized that the pictures that show the close-up of the dress are in my album in the thread 'wedding dress pictures' in the bridal forum. My beading was more random beading still in the v's and I didn't use bugle beads, but round and oval barrel and bicone beads.
Laura
Tickled pink with my Innovis 4000D |
User: bridesmom
Member since: 01-21-2004 Total posts: 2026 |
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