Graduation dress

Last year I made several posts giving an overview of the construction of a graduation dress. This year I decided to post some examples of the details of one (or two) of the dresses I'm working on. These photos are from a dress that has lots of tucks and a very pretty lace treatment on the skirt. I have already made the muslin, done a fitting and cut it apart for the pattern pieces, which have in turn been cut from Swiss batiste and sewn together. 
   The tucked pieces of the dress are cut from a panel of batiste that I spent HOURS stitching on with a twin needle. HOURS!
   The oblong motifs are cut from an old hankie, then attached with free motion stitching to the tucked piece.
  The vertical lace elements are added to the dress with straight stitching, centering the lace over the construction seams. The fabric behind the lace is trimmed away, the trimmed edges are pressed towards the dress and held in place with zig zag stitching.

lace centered over seam and straight stitched

fabric trimmed

fabric being trimmed

excess fabric pressed away from lace

zig zag on edges

part of the tucked panel (HOURS!)

motif cut from hankie to be free motioned stitched onto tucked piece

loopy design on skirt

Bodice with motif and other lace that may or may not be added

  The "loopy" design was traced onto the batiste skirt with a wash away pen. The lace was stitched on following the tracing. The tucked bit is basted on right now, but will be stitched later after another fitting.
Of course it all is puckered but will be pressed nice and smooth as construction continues and when the dress is finished. If you have any questions, ask away!