Wedding Ensemble: project planning, draping, & sourcing
A few photos of a draping exercise showing the general shaping and the first step in developing a “sketch” of this project. This is just draped free hand with a long uncut yardage of fabric for the skirt. It is a gesture of the final design to be worked out. The jacket is just a one yard square pinned with some pleats made from some red silk from my cabbage bin.
A few sketches are made up that I will be cleaning up with the changes and additions from the initial client meeting. Each portion will be made as a separate garment meant to be worn together as an ensemble that can later be worn in different arrangements as desired for other events.
This ensemble will include a corset, underskirt, bustled over-skirt, and a bolero jacket with pleating & lacing details. The draping was done with a fabric in a similar color and weight of silk taffeta as the final fashion fabric. The final fabric is more red in tone shot with blue/dark navy. It shines very dark cherry out in the sun light. The yardage for the gown has now been purchased and we are starting with the first mock-up of the corset. Luckily I was able to get the last roll of the fabric as one cut. It was a little nerve wracking to know that some of the color samples I had on hand were discontinued or on back order. But in the end we got the exact one! Otherwise a trip down to LA would have been on the platter to find a substitute fabric. Now to source the rest of the fabrics and supplies that I do not have in my stash.
