hem finishes and depth on silk satin

Unless I've missed it, you have not shared a pattern number for this confection. Is the skirt flared or straight? That makes a huge difference in how deep the hem should be.

On my DD's wedding gown, for an A-line skirt in heavy Duchesse satin, I underlined the dress with silk organza, eased in the 1 1/2" hem, and applied 1 1/2" horsehair braid which folded to the *inside* of the hem. Then I hand stitched the hem in place, catching ONLY the organza underlining, so that no stitches showed to the right side.

Pics:

Sewing:

Your dresses are just beautiful! I love all the detailed shots of the gown construction. I had planned to shoot photos of my sister in her muslin when we had her fitting, but that morning we were pressed for time and my two babies needed my attention, too. I told my sister when she comes over again that I want to put her in the dress to shoot some photos for my records.

When I made my gown, I underlined it with silk organza like you did your daughter's and also used horsehair braid to finish out the hemline. I also had a dragonfly motif on my gown, but it was on the bodice. We got married in our backyard by the lake and we have lots of dragonflies around here. Thanks for sharing your photos. They were lovely and inspiring! :-)

lisa

For a light weigh gown with a very fluid look, I'd reduce the hem turn-up to about half to an inch, and finish by hand. Try to get a silk thread of 100 weight in a matching colour to do this, or, failing that, use machine embroidery floss. It's very smooth and will make an almost invisible hem. Clean finish the edge, and then sew by hand, using a shortish stitch and catching only a thread or two on the inside: you don't want the needle to go all the way through the fabric! Leave the stitches fairly loose as well... You do NOT want to pull them tight enough to make visible dimples from the outside! To clean finish, you might want to think of using a fine silk thread and a two-thread serged stitch, or oversewing by hand, the couture way! :)

If you pop over to my web site and take a look at the article on rescuing a bias cut disaster, you can see how I did the hems on these poly satin/crepe nightmares! Believe me: silk will be easier! :)

lisa

Lovely pattern!

Yes, I knew of your concerns for heat, I've been reading your messages here. ;-)

Thanks! I sort of ran out of steam/time toward the end, and didn't get pics up of the home stretch. But the pictures of the wedding show the final result.

You used dragonflies, too, how interesting!!! DD's wedding was at a beautiful site here in OR, I just could not face another garden wedding. My older DD was married at out home 23 years ago. Made all those dresses, too. And mine, 46 years ago. And if I'm lucky, I'll live to make my darling granddaughter's...she was the flower girl. ;-) Thanks again for your gracious comments.

Beverly