This morning my sister came over for her muslin fitting of the wedding gown. I had stayed up quite late sewing the dress together, hand basting in the zipper and basting down all the seam allowances at the neckline and armholes and hemline so that the mockup would appear polished. I held my breath as I zipped up the gown, and Presto! The gown was a perfect fit! The only alteration to the pattern will be moving the waistline up 1", as she is shortwaisted like me. We're removing 8" from the length of the original pattern to make it tea length. I couldn't believe how well it fit. I had just mocked up this pattern without having taken her measurements beforehand, because the distance between us didn't give me an opportunity to do this before starting the mockup. We just decided this past Monday that I would be making the dress, too.
We drove to the fabric store (1 1/2 hr drive) in a rainstorm. This place has a pretty decent bridal section and I encouraged my sister to take her time and look at everything, since we probably wouldn't be coming back before the wedding. After 3 hours of shopping (with a lunch break) we returned to the store and she decided that simplicity is what she wanted. She selected a candlelight-color silk satin. It was just so pretty and felt so good. It was actually the first fabric I had suggested when we came into the store She picked out a sweet beaded trim that is in the blush pink she wanted and we're going to place that around the waistline. She said that she may change her mind and just go with the original idea of a ribbon tied at the waistline and do this in an ivory/cream ribbon so that it contrasts with the dress. I told her that I wanted her to take her time and look at everything and every possibilty so that there would be no doubt in her mind later on. I think she's really pleased with the purchase.
Now I just have to make my pattern alts and get cracking on preparing the fabric!! Oh, does any know of a source for examination paper like they use at the doctor's office? I want to pin my fabric to that when I cut it out so that it doesn't crawl.
lisa