Bollywood Ball Gown- Princess India and Prince Kevin

Doesn't she look like a princess with her prince?

"Oh Kevin, yellow roses with crystals. Perfect!

Yeah, Kevin, you picked well!

Beautiful couple

"Ok, Mom, enough pictures. 

Kevin and Erin, let's go!"

And off they all went to the Ball!
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Thank you all for visiting my blog this week for the creation of the Bollywood Ball Gown.

I will have a little thank you gift posted in a day or so.

If you enjoyed your visit, please post a comment to say hello! 

I am always so encouraged by your comments.

More to come this week!

Bollywood Ball Gown-Putting It All Together

Ham anyone?

Since there were so many curves in this pattern, I ended up 

using my tailors ham nearly every time I pressed.

I like things nice and smooth!

Then I pinned it all together for one last fitting!

India is saying "Enough with the pictures mom!"

At this point, the gown has the dress layer, 

a layer of tulle sewn to the back of the dress layer,

the lining, the boned layer of the corset, which 

also has a layer of very thick interfacing,

and of course the boning!

So once that was all sewn together, 

I sewed the lining to the whole concoction.

But then that needed to be clipped, pressed 

and turned to the inside.

And the best way for me to know where to tack it down to the 

dress was to turn the whole thing inside out 

and pin it on the dress form.

We decided to go a little different direction with the sari 

fabric, so India requested a sweetheart neckline.

They are NOT super fun to do, but

once I got it properly clipped, turned and pressed it was ok.

Once I got it stitched down, I turned it right side out!

Then, I finally was ready to hem!

I didn't take any pictures of this because it was just a 

basic narrow rolled hem using my narrow rolled hem foot.
I LOVE that thing!

 After the hem, India decided that she wanted the train

to be slightly bustled up. 

I have done this several different ways before, 

but for this one, I just used a medium sized hook and eye on the

underside of the skirt.

The "eye" is sewn to the bottom of the zipper

and the "hook" is sewn hook side down on the seam of the skirt.

This is the finished back with the crystal beads

sewn all the way up the back.

At the top, where the zipper stops, there is a sapphire blue button

with a rhinestone in the center.

The little pucker you see at the base of the zipper is where the 

skirt is bustled.

The biggest struggle of this whole project was

what to do with the sari fabric. 

After draping it so many different ways,

and never really being happy with how it laid ,

India requested that just cut part of it off and finish 

the edges to make a shawl.

I was disappointed at first because I really had visions

of what I wanted this fabric to be. 

But none of my trys worked.

So, the shawl was exactly the right thing to do!

I just did a rolled hem on my serger and it was perfect.

So, are you ready to see the finished gown?

India? Are you ready to put your gown on?

By the way, aren't her gold and rhinestone sandals cute??

All that engineering, and the gown looks deceptively simple.

Her she is with the train down.

I realized that after all that, I did not get a picture 

with the bustle up.
I will do that later and show you.

Here is the shawl draped in a more sari-like fashion.

Yes, that is a bindi she has on her forehead.

The Indian woman at the grocery store

where we bought the fabric and the costume jewelry

told us that bindis used to be reserved for married woman

but are now used by fashionable young ladies regardless

of marital status. 

India's friend Erin came over to get ready with India

They did each others' hair and makeup.

Aw.......makes a mama get all teary.

This is SENIOR BALL people!!! 

My baby is at SENIOR BALL!!

Aren't they gorgeous???

Cute shoes. 

Did I mention that there were snowflakes in the air today?

Really!!

Next post will show Princess India with her Prince Kevin.

And then, a goodie for you all!

 Check back for a tutorial on India's satin drawstring purse.

And later this week, I will show you how to prickstitch a zipper.

All kinds of goodies in store!

Bollywood Ball Gown- Boning and Zipper

India's date will pick her up in 27 hours.

So, the ticker is going.

These are the "bustier" pieces.

They actually go inside the lining as the foundation.

These are the channels for the boning.

You remember how I said I hate tulle?

Well, as much as I hate tulle,

I enjoy dealing with boning.

Which is a pretty good thing since India likes it so much.

I like that it adds such a lovely structure to a garment.

I like "foundation".

Says a lot about me as a person, eh?

Two important things to remember about boning are this:

1. You must round the edges of your boning before inserting it in the channels.

If you do not do this, the boning will eventually poke through the fabric and not look pretty.

and

2. Boning has a direction because it is coiled. 

So you must make sure you put the boning in the channel

going the right direction or your fit will be funny.

Oh, and yes, that is a bowl of baked ziti. I did a lot of eating standing up this week

while I was sewing. I get a one-track mind and 

simply can't be bothered to stop and eat sitting down.

Not a good habit for a mama to teach her kids, I know.

But India made the ziti and it was GOOD!

Here is the foundation with the lovely sewn channels for the boning.

For a girl who loved geometry, this is bliss! 

Isn't it a pretty look?

(Sorry, I'm a geek!)

So I took in the dress again and the fit is looking better and 

India is smiling now.

Still dealing with the sway back but better now.

Ok, this is where things are getting frustrating.

We are not really sure how to do the draping of the sari fabric.

And of course, we are running into the

awareness that India will never be

six feet tall like Nicole Kidman when she wore the

Hindi wedding gown in Moulin Rouge.

So, we may go another direction with the sari fabric.

But we have a few more things to do before we get there.

The pattern called for a zipper sewn by "Prickstitch"
or as I was taught "Handpicked".

I contemplated sewing in an invisible zipper but

decided instead to add a bit of interest to the zipper.

On the inside, I machine stitched the zipper to the seam allowance.

But on the outside, each time I prick stitched, I added a crystal bead.

Not a great picture but this shows the zipper with the 

crystals attached.

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Then yesterday was Ahnalin's open house at her school.

She insisted on wearing a smocked dress I made for her 2 years ago.

And I did not make bloomers for this dress.

Silly Me!

Monkey Girl was in rare form!

What a cutie pie!

Now, I get to attache the dress, the lining, and 

both pieces of the foundation.

After that I will have some hand sewing and the 

hem.

Then, I have to deal with that sari fabric! YIKES!!

More pictures to follow later today.

Bollywood Ball Gown- Fitting, Lining and Gathered Tulle

Tulle!

Yeah, I hate the stuff.

But we will get to that in a moment.

Here is the lining.

Yeah, not too exciting.

BUT......

Looky here!

So, I hate tulle,

and my serger and I have a rather tentative truce going on.

But, I had heard that, (and don't laugh all you 

girls who are all chummy with your sergers!)

gathering could actually be done on a serger.

So, I did a little internet search and came up with this

tutorial from Kymy.

And, well now! 

It worked!

Gathered tulle! 

While watching the newest episode of Glee

that I had waiting on the DVR, I pinned on 

the lower ruffle to the lining.

And as a side note, wasn't that an amazing episode???

I mean, from the first time I saw Lea Michele on the Tonys,
I thought she was a dead ringer for Idina Menzel!
AWESOME!!!

Ok, back to the subject at hand,

tulle....

Here is the upper layer of tulle pinned onto the lining.

Remember, Princess India likes full twirly skirts!

Sewing this onto the lining was not fun, but it is done now.

Phew!

Then I got to try the lining on her!

It looks all wide on her because the seams are on the outside.

This is so the inside where her skin is touching will be protected 

from all that nasty itchy tulle!

By the way, notice India's "Mom, the pins are sticking me and I am exhausted

and have an Algebra final tomorrow so I need to get to bed!!" look.

Now the dress is tried on over the lining.

It is still pinned on in back and raw on the top.

Still all pinned at the back.

I am debating putting in the zipper now, 

or waiting until the Sari fabric overdress is done.

She wants the over dress to be separate so it can come off,

but I don't think that will lay well.

So, I have a lot more to do still.

Now, I get to make the seam adjustments and make it fit better.

And I get to sew the bodice lining and add the.....

take a guess.......

BONING!!!

Yep. Time to add the boning.

Back to the dress mines for me. 

More pics tomorrow!!

Oh, and yes, I KNOW the ball is on Saturday night!

Bollywood Ball Gown- Muslin and Dress Fabric

I am so sorry I have not posted pictures before this. 

I am going really slowly because (grand excuse coming here!)
I have been dealing with migraines a lot lately.

Excuses, excuses!

So, enough excuses already!

Since I had not used this pattern before, 

Vogue 2717, 

and we accidentally purchased the wrong size pattern,

I started with a muslin.

In this case, I actually used real muslin, 

but I have used other fabrics in the past for this purpose.

I like real muslin because it is cheap and you can mark it all up!

Marking is so important because then I can take the 

muslin apart to make changes to the pattern.

Shockingly, I only needed to make a few changes this time.

India is sway backed so I had to add a bit of 

width at the back side panels and even out that 

line a bit. Then I had to alter the angle of the back pieces 

to remove that wrinkle at her upper hip.

It was less of an issue than 

it could have been. 

YAY!

I am sorry I did not get a good pic of the actual pattern alteration.

 Then I pinned the pattern piece to the muslin to see how

much I needed to shorten the length. 

This pattern had me do something I have never done before.

Now for some of you, it may be a big "DUH!" 

but it was a new, and not terribly welcome addition.

It is a bridal pattern so that may have something to do with it.

But let me just tell you how much I HATE tulle!

Ok, that being said, I get it. 

Really.

Each piece of the dress 

(not the lining or the over-dress, just the actual dress)

has a layer of tulle sewn to the wrong side. 

Hm....

At first I thought it was a waist of time.

But that tulle really adds body to the satin. 

Nice!

And serging the tulle to the satin added a nice finished edge

to the dress pieces so after I sewed the dress seams,

I had a nice seam that could be easily altered. 

That is really important since I am sewing so much of this gown while
India is not here. 

This was India at 5:30 this morning getting ready

for school. She will not be home

until midnight because the upper level

choirs are gone all day at the Golden State Choir Competition.

So, I will have to grab her for a few seconds tonight before she 

passes out in bed to fit the dress on her.

So there is not much to show yet. 

It looks like a 7th grade Home Ec. project 

on the dress form there.

But after I get it fitted on her,

and start adding the various layers of lining,

foundation, boning, more tulle,

and then the draping of the Sari fabric,

it will start to look like something pretty.

More pics to come tomorrow!!

So, Ahnalin just learned to make daisy chains and is picking 

all of our daisies before they get a chance to bloom.

I explained to her that I had photo plans for those daisies so hopefully

she will let them alone for a while. 

And one more thing.

Guess who is back!!!

Yep!
The froggies have returned!!!

This little guy was
IN THE HOUSE!!! 

So Papa caught him and Ahnalin got to release him back into the pond.
Yay for our froggies!!!!

Now, back to the " Dress mines."

More pics to follow.