Houston, We have Lift-Off

We're ready to rock'n'roll. Last week I finally was able to attach the skirt to the bodice. The midriff band looks much smoother now that the boning was added. However, I will need to order more boning in shorter lengths. I think I'm going to bring the midriff band up 1/2 inch. If you can remember back a couple of months ago, I added 1.5 inches to the midriff band. I'm not happy with the back closure but we'll get there. The bones need to be placed in a sharper angle. Ignore the lack of flooring in the picture.

This week's dilemma has been finding lace to put on the midriff band. I am a lace snob. I do not want anything that says "cheap" on the bridal gown. My problem is finding French Alencon in the width that I want/need. Because Alencon is used primarily on bridal and because of the cost, it is impossible to find. Certainly, it's not available in my neck of the woods. I've come up with only a handful of websites that carry the lace but it is not exactly what I want. I know it's out there. It's just finding the store that carries it. I sent an email to Mary Jo's in North Carolina a couple of days ago. I still haven't heard back from them. They have a section on their website to ask about fabrics, etc. So I did! I sent them a picture of a seven inch trim but I would like it to be 5.5 to 6 inches wide. I wonder if they roll their eyes and say "another obsessive MOB." I still have a few stores that I can call. I started with Mary Jo's because I've been to her store and I know that there is lots of Alencon lace there.

Here is an example of what I'm searching for except that I need this to be a tad narrower. I wish the extra inch width would work but it just won't. This lace is from Baltazar's. I may have to give them a call. They are a web only business now. I would think that if they had something smaller, it would be on their website.

These are the only pictures I'm going to post right now. I have more pictures but they are the front of the gown. I'm going to try to not give too much away. You've seen all the basic pieces, but hopefully the look will be different once we do away with the muslin and have real silk and French laces.

Now that I've got the muslin together, I need to take it apart. I will keep the skirt together but I will need to take all of the bodice apart and use that as my pattern. The skirt needs to be taken in only about a half inch so I'm going to fudge that. My moniker, the lazy sewer.