Ballgown: Day 22 (Or, Playing With Lace)

 

Yesterday, as planned, I worked with lace all day. I spent most of the afternoon piecing the godet together. It doesn't have a lining, so I had to carefully take two darts out of the lace by cutting around the motifs in the general area of the darts, overlapping them, and appliquéing the lace to itself. It doesn't look like much now that it's done, but it allows the lace edging to be nicely curved to fit in with the hem of the skirt.

It's tedious, eye-crossing work, but the end result is absolutely lovely in a really understated way. It's another one of those touches that will barely register if you don't look for it - but that's the overall intent of my gown: to look like the fabric has barely been manipulated at all. Like it just came into being, with no work at all.

  

After that, I started draping the front panel appliqué for the skirt. In my illustration, the figure is 10 heads tall, so her proportions are a little different than mine. My intention with the design was for the lace to end around the knee, which is a lot different on my 10-head girl than it is on me. (My shoes make me a little taller, but not by that much!) It was a challenge, but I ended up with a nice angle to the edges, and a cute little touch to help fill out the intersection of the lace - which I'll share if it's successful.

I still have a lot of work to go, but it feels really good to be working on the little details of the actual, final dress! It's sort of amazing how much it looks like the original illustration - it's funny how certain things are intuitive in the design process, and you don't understand why they work until you start construction.

Today I'm finishing the front skirt appliqué and - fingers crossed! - starting to put the skirt together. I can't even describe how cool it is to see it finally turning into a dress!

Happy Friday!
<3
Cory