To all who mourn in Israel, He will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the LORD has planted for his own glory. Isaiah 61:3

Thursday, August 13, 2015

First Bustle Era Dress....or the Grape Soda Dress...Underskirt Completed!!

Huzzah!  Step one in the Grape Soda dress is finished!  The last knot of thread on the underskirt was knotted about two hours ago!  I am so excited!  


Here is the Grape Soda monstrosity in all it's grape-y glory!  What a mass of silk...I tried it on and boy was it fun to walk around in!  I am still trying to decide how to do the bustle in the back.  I have a few inspirations that I am pondering....I may just tie a know at the back like the fashion plate below! 


Inspiration for the trim on the front of the skirt.  I loved the pleat, ruffle, ruffle-with-two-edges-being-ruched idea.  I don't have enough fabric to do the upper most ruffle, but I think my skirt looks fine without it.  The inspiration doesn't have any ruffles on the back of the skirt/train, but I wanted them on mine as it would help keep the train "out" and not fold over on itself and also looks pretty!




Close up of trim.  The dark band around the ruffle is the selvage.  I LOVE silk that has the selvage as I am a lazy pleater/ruffler and if I can get away with not hemming anything, I totally will!!!!!!

Up next...apron and bustling.  I am sure that this era of dress is supposed to have the apron/bustle sewn into the waist band of the underskirt, but I just didn't want to mess with it....

Be blessed my friends!


38 comments:

  1. HOLY SPUMONI that is simply STUNNING!!!! I always wimp out when it comes to decorations, I need to start doing them! (It might help if I wasn't always frantically sewing days before the event I intend to wear it at lol)

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    1. Ooooh! Spumoni! I love the pistachio out of that ice cream! Thank you so much Crystal! And I totally get the frantic sewing bit. But, it is totally worth it to do all the decoration!!! I know you can do it!
      Blessings!
      g

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    2. Yeah, spumoni (and esp the pistachio part!) is delicious, and so is this skirt!

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    3. If ever we meet, we shall go and get Spumoni!!!

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    1. Thank you so much Tiffany Jane!
      Blessings!
      g

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  3. That skirt is wonderful in all of its ruffle-y, pleat-y, glory!

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    1. Thank you so much TDS!! It is quite ruffle-y and pleat-y!!
      Blessings!
      g

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  4. Absolutely stunning! :D I love how the dark selvage adds an extra contrast. All the pleats, ruffles, rouches turned out lavish! I also love this color! Can hardly wait to see the overdress :) Have a nice pleat (haha, day) :D

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    1. Thank you Melinda! Whenever I use this sort of silk the selvage adds such a nice contrast...it's fun! I love your compliment "lavish"! Very nice!! I hope you have a lovely day as well!
      Blessings!
      g

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  5. Oh Gina! I think my heart stopped when I saw the first image of your skirt in all its grapeliciousness!! Truly a masterpiece!!! I think I am head over heals in love with this skirt and can't wait to see the finished piece.

    In awe, Cori

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    1. I wow! Thank you for your lovely compliment Cori! I am quite blushing! I worked today on the overskirt and I think it turned out well. I will have to sleep on it though...
      Blessings!
      g

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  6. WOW! fantastic!! I absolutely am in love with ruffles AND pleats as opposed to just doing one or the other! I can't wait to see it with the apron!

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    1. Thank you Jill! I thought the combination of the ruffles and pleats would be a nice contrast! I am happy you like them! I worked on the apron today and am going to sleep on it to see it will be sewn together tomorrow!
      Blessings!
      g

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    1. Ha! Holy crackers! That's too fun. Thank you so much Lauren!
      Blessings!
      g

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  8. Those pleats and ruches are simply stunning!

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    1. Thank you Katherine! My eyes agree, but my hands...not to much...
      Blessings!
      g

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  9. this is just so beautiful!! I'm really looking forward to see the rest of the project!! you are so talented Gina! I don't know how you do it. so many pleats!!!

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    1. Thank you for your lovely compliments MaiLoan! I worked on the overskirt today and think it turned out ok...we'll see tomorrow! I put more pleats on that too! ACK!!!
      Blessings!
      g

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  10. Oooh, pretty! It has gorgeous lines.

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  11. Wow, that is gorgeous! Looking forward to seeing the rest of the dress.

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    1. Thank you so much BT! I can't wait as well, because that will mean I have finished it! Hahahahaha!!
      Blessings!
      g

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  12. Looking gorgeous and I love the color! I can't wait to see how the rest of it turns out!

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    1. Thank you so much Glennis! The color is so very lovely!
      Blessings!
      g

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  13. This is just beautiful, I can't wait to see the rest!

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  14. This looks beautiful! Can you tell me, did you gather the ruched section over a cord?

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    1. Thank you Elizabeth! I actually just make a couple of gathering stitch lines and gather it up!! I have heard of people using cord or dental floss, but I have yet to try that.
      Blessings!
      g

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  15. You're doing mad ruffles on your skirts like I always want to but always end up not having time to do it. And partly I worry about how I can make them look even all the way around. What's the trick? Do a detailed blog please pretty please?
    Val

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    1. Val! I just wrote a blog and added a tutorial on how I get my fluff straight!! Don't fear the trim!! You can do it!!!
      Blessings!
      g

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  16. I'm all caught up! If only I could say the same of my blog. Reading - much easier than writing. I just love this big beautiful fluffly skirt! We live too far apart.

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    1. Thank you!! And yes we do live too far apart my friend!
      Blessings!
      g

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  17. I love this beyond words. I already have a fixation on pleats, ruching and tiers of trim so this is hitting all my buttons.

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    1. Thank you so much Laura! I too love pleats and ruching....so I am really having a fun time with this dress and era! Gives me an excuse to put them on the dress!!
      Blessings!
      g

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