I am making a dress for a wedding we are going to in Valladolid, Mexico in May. It is going to be boiling hot, so I want something that breathes. I opted for a cheery, coral linen, strapless number with slant side pockets for accent. Pockets? How Carolina Herrera of me…This dress is my design, custom made to my measurements.

I started with the inner bodice, using a light muslin and a peach cotton and stitched boning through both layers. I typically try to find a lining closer in color to the dress fabric, but had none such luck here. The peach cotton will have to do. I used rigiline boning, which is lighter and more flexible than other boning styles and you can sew through it. The inner bodice is not a corselette, however, it will function as one. The difference is it will be attached at the top edge of the dress and at the zipper, working as the actual lining of the bodice.

boning detail

Here is the outer shell of the dress (inside view). For more structure, I used two layers and treated them as one–the coral linen combined with the peach cotton. The peach cotton is considered the “under lining” in this case. Once the garment is fully constructed, there will be four total layers making up the bodice (all lightweight cottons) and two layers for the skirt.

I clipped the curves of the bust seams so that they will lay nicely against the boned, inner lining. The “clippings” will be hand stitched to the peach, under lining to prevent any bulging.

I’ve incorporated a waist stay—a must when making a strapless dress. This will keep everything up, while resting on my waistline. I used grosgrain ribbon and cheated by purchasing a bra closure, rather than sewing hooks and eyes on by hand. I’ve made it adjustable by utilizing the extra “notch”, so I’ll be comfortable after gorging on flan. Actually, I don’t really care that much for flan.

Here is the waist stay in place, hand tacked at each bone.

I stitched seam binding at the top lining edge for added support. This will keep the top edge of the dress from stretching and sagging. Ewww.

After attaching the inner bodice to the outer bodice at the top edge, I stitched a button hole at both ends of the inner bodice for the waist stay to peek through.

I experimented a bit with the skirt. I first decided to do a small gather between the pockets at the center front. Then, I thought I’d prefer a single pleat, with two pleats at the back. I settled on the little gather at the front and a slightly wider gather at the back. I initially top stitched the pocket edges, but decided less is more, and did a fine job of pressing them instead.

Next up: Attaching the skirt to the bodice! Do Note: This has been slow going, due to a lack of time to sew. Also, since I am short waisted, I’ve had to make special alterations the back of the skirt. Fitting on myself is quite challenging—I really should adjust my dress form asap! I am now rushing to the finish line and will post more pics soon. Thanks for tuning in!

Okelee dokelee. I was up way past my bedtime last night, but made great progress. I attached the skirt and had to do some minor tweaking due to my shelf butt and short waist, but all seems to be peachy now.

Next up was inserting the invisible zipper (spooky). I had to attach a special foot to my machine to do so, and carefully pinned it in place. I am a stickler for seams matching up (as I should be) and had to consider the already finished top edge of the dress and the waist seam when inserting the magical zipper. Below you can see that I have started to pin the lining along the zipper edge, which I still need to stitch by hand. This will make for a neat finish.

The final step: Hemming and hawing (I’m such a word play dork—as if you haven’t noticed by now). I hemmed the lining a few inches shorter than the outer fabric (it appears longer in the pic, as I’ve got the outer fabric pulled back) and have pinned the skirt hem in place. When I get home from work tonight, I’ll do a quick zigzag to prevent fraying (I know, I need a serger) and hand sew the hem in place. I’ll ask Mr. Brian to take a pic of me in the final product tonight, but I can’t promise I’ll post it before we leave for M-E-X-I-C-O. Please stand by.

I’m back and my dress passed the dancing test with flying colors. I didn’t have to yank on it once thanks to the waist stay (y me gusta baile mucho). I actually finished the outer hem and stitched the lining to the zipper on the plane. FYI: You can now carry-on sewing needles and 4″ scissors!

We should have taken a daytime shot of the full dress, but were running behind (I was on flower duty and you know how hectic weddings are). Here is a night shot, after dinner (and after I had been sitting and wrinkling a mess out of my dress). I’ll launder it and add more photos that feature the pockets and pleats later.