an honorable dress

The big week is upon us.  Saturday, August 20th is the wedding of dear Rachel and Joshua.  There is plenty to do and much fun ahead.  I'm very excited.

The big thing on the list I can finally check off...making my dress.  Rachel gave each of us bridesmaids a variety of swatches for color scheme and her only request was that the dresses be slightly above knee-length.  

Here is my initial sketch with some measurements.

I wanted mine to be made of linen and after a bit of looking decided to make the dress myself.  I couldn't find the correct color so I decided to dye white linen to suit.  I was about two weeks behind the schedule I would have preferred due to that pesky illness.

 Referencing notes of history of fabric I dug out some of my old dyes and gave it a shot.

 Stirring is very important to keep an even color.

 I just rinsed it out in the yard with earth-friendly detergent.  The dyes, though not natural, are apparently non-toxic acceptable too.

Well, after a few washes, the color didn't stick.  I think the dye wasn't strong enough and was probably too old.  The fabric was lavender...not acceptable.

 Plan B...RIT Dye: Two parts Navy to one part Purple.

 This time I used a bigger bucket and a bigger stirring stick.

 This time it worked.  After a billion washes make sure the four yards were ready to use.

I went about making my dress in my favorite manor...trial and error.  I began with the skirt and got it to the right fullness and then worked my way up to the bodice.  When all the seams were good and double stitched and surged, I stitched the two parts together.

 Lastly, I created the collar.  It is scalloped and I stitched many lines into it.

And it's done!  Pics of me wearing will have to wait until its debut on Saturday.  Wahoo!