Yay! It’s done, it’s done, it’s done!
Those of you who follow me on Twitter or lurk the MMM Flickr Pool have already seen this picture… I snapped it right before I left for a lovely Saturday afternoon wedding (spoiler: it was a beautiful wedding and I overindulged and DEFINITELY paid for it the next day, ugh haha).
I did take better pictures, though! And now I will share then with the group 🙂
Fair warning – there’s a lot here, and you can see that I moved locations a couple of times while shooting. I actually took over a hundred pictures – I know that sounds kind of, uh, self-obsessed, but the light was extremely bright and it’s pretty difficult to get a good shot when you have to keep running back and forth to the tripod! I was able to narrow the selection down to WAY below 100, but there are still quite a few. I normally feel a little narcissistic posting a bunch of pictures of myself in the same freakin’ pose, but I’m really proud of my dress so just indulge me this one time. Ok? Ok!
Here is where I started – in my backyard. Isn’t it so lush & green? Lovely backdrop for this dress 🙂 Unfortunately, the light was too harsh here, so only a couple of pictures survived the cut.
On the porch (which appears to be the best light ever; this is why you always see outfit pictures on this porch haha). Not a terribly awesome picture of me, but – my hair! My hair looked so good! Alas, it was almost 90 degrees on Saturday and extremely humid so the curls ended up drooping about 5 minutes later. Ah well.
It got too hot, so I gave up and went inside to the air conditioning.
The strap! I made mine fairly wide, with small gathers where it joins the bodice. There are button holes & buttons, but the strap didn’t sit right buttoned in, so I used tiny fell stitches to anchor it to the top of the bodice as well.
I’m not going to share any more pictures or details of the insides, I think there are plenty enough as it is on this blog!
A few thoughts on the Bombshell:
– It is quite comfortable! Of course, I tend to wear my clothing with little to no ease regardless, but boning is something that I’ve always associated with discomfort. The boning in this dress is great: it kept everything into place but didn’t hinder any movement whatsoever.
– When I first finished the dress, I was worried that the bodice was too long for my torso. Maybe I’m just used to a shorter bodice, because this one absolutely ends right at my waist, so it’s the correct length. Anyway, now that I’m looking at the pictures, I think it looks fine.
– Despite multiple muslins, the middle of the bodice does not actually sit flush against my chest. I guess my cups are a smidge too small as it should fit just like a bra does (and my bras do fit with the middle flush against me. Is that tmi?). Then again, I think any gal who is increasing the cups to fit a chest that is too big for the original pattern size is probably going to struggle with getting that piece to lie flat. The lesson here: no one else noticed, and I only noticed because I have this wonderful angle of looking straight down. I still think the fit looks great. Don’t sweat it if yours doesn’t lie flat either!
– As I mentioned, it was 90* outside and the wedding ceremony was in the middle of a flower garden covered with direct sunlight. It was hot outside! And even though my dress has many layers and is extremely fitted, I didn’t feel any more warm that I would in shorts & a tshirt. Make sure your fabric (and lining) is very breathable if you are planning on wearing this in super hot weather!
– I enjoyed working on this dress, and I loved the process of all the fiddly detail work, but I will confess that toward the end I was just ready to be DONE! I think this is a great dress for a special occasion, but make sure you give yourself a nice long deadline in the distant future so you don’t feel terribly rushed – a dress like this, with all the fitting, and handwork, and special techniques… doesn’t need to be rushed.
I guess that’s it? I am very pleased with my finished dress, and I definitely think the course was worth the $$ – I learned so much, including new favorite hand-stitches and little tips/tricks that never occurred to me otherwise. If you are still on the fence for a class like this, I hope this post & these pictures nudged a little closer to my side 🙂
Gooorgeous!!! I love how your dress turned out! And it was great to be able to follow along in your progress… it made me even more excited to see it now.
killer, baby!!! i don’t blame you for taking a hundred pics. the dress demands it 🙂
Stunning, I’ve followed your progress of this dress and it looks gorgeous, well done ❤
Your dress turned out beautifully. I love this pattern in a print.
Beautiful work on the dress! And yeah, the middle of the bra (central gore) should sit on your chest, otherwise the cups are too small. More info here, if you’re for some reason interested: http://brastop.com/fitting/#1
This looks fantastic! I signed up for this class and 2 knitting ones…can’t wait to get started now.
Great job! Looks fantastic! You should definitely be proud — proud enough to take and post a billion pictures if you want to:)
That is a fabulous dress – it fits you so well and I love the print! Definitely worth the effort.
Wowee what a dress! Your fabric choice was great, and it looks like an excellent fit too.
It looks awesome!
I’m glad to hear that it still works without sitting flush as I just cannot get it to sit perfectly and oh I have tried!
Love it! Everything about it looks so well made.
Everything about it is perfect!!!!! You did good!!
Beautiful! You should find a reason to wear this dress as often as you can. It suits you perfectly!
It’s totally awesome – congrats on being finished!
Wow! You look “da bomb” (to coin the phrase) in your new dress 🙂 ! I have that course already saved ‘n’ paid for, but I’m waiting to use it later this year (nearer Christmas).
Your dress looks so fabulous and you look beautiful in it. I have already bought the course and hope that mine (when I get round to it!) looks at least half as good as yours!
Oh my, oh my, oh my! You are a vision in this dress, I heart everything about it and your hair looks awesome too! I’m tempted to buy into this tutorial, just for the skills and techniques everyone seems to have learned!!!
Awesome! You rock that dress!!
I am still working on my muslin for that dress and I am also bigger busted but smaller through the rib cage. How much (if any) did you have to alter the bodice pieces to fit your modified cup pieces? On my first muslin, I ended up with such screwed up bodice pieces, that I just scrapped the whole thing and started over. I think I was altering the bodice too much for the cups. Would love to hear what you noticed with your alteration. Thanks, Lauren 🙂
Oh yeah, that whole bodice was a total bitch to fit. You’ll get it, though! I did significantly alter both the cups & the bodice – here is a picture of the bodice post-adjustment (the pink lines are the original pattern lines; the black are my adjustments!), and here are the cup pieces. Crazy stuff! I started with the size 38, which is actually bigger than my ribcage because I thought it would be better to take in, rather than let out. I perfected my cup fit, then sewed everything together, put the bodice on inside-out and pinched & pinned until I got a good fit. Like I said, totally a PITA (would have been soooo much easier if I had a friend help, or if my form actually had the same waist/ribcage measurement haha) but totally worth the effort!
That is a fantastic fit! Great job!
Wow wee! Looks fantastic! Awesome job! You should be so proud. I’d take 100 pictures too!
Looks fab.
You have owned this! Super impressive 😀
Yay, so glad you are happy with the final product! Needless to say it looks fabulous 🙂
Wowowowowowowow- Bow chicka wowow! Fantastic work, you’re a knockout!
The print of the dress is just fabulous! I’m sure you were prettier than the bride at the wedding 🙂
Stunning 🙂
FABOLOUS! Dress is stunning on you!!!!!!! I was so excitied to see your post this morning. Gorgeous fabric and fit. Gorgeous everything!!!!!
Absolutely perfect! That fabric is LOUD, I was nervous as I read along, but SUCH a good end result!
My first thought was about the boning (tee-hee) and how uncomfortable it might be. So I’m glad you mentioned it’s not an issue! Bombshell dress indeed, you look killer! Like, what’s a non pervy way to say to you’re super hot. Totes hawt dude.
Holy crap, you look amazing! The dress is KILLER– totally worth all the time and effort! Beautifully done!!
this looks SO LOVELY! seriously fantastic! I signed up for the class awhile ago but then kinda psyched myself out… but all of your posts are really encouraging! (especially the finished dress!)
All the hard work was totally worth the effort. The results are stunning!
Gorgeous!!
Man I was going to say da bomb, but some other lame person stole it! You look great and that is an awesome dress. Were you like “I have the best dress here, losers?” because I would have!
Heck yeah, bombshell! Way to go!
The Bombshell came out great!!!! I totally love it!
Gorgeous Lauren! That is your killer dress right there. Now you must go be some femme fatale in some film noir situation – this dress requires it!
OMG! It’s beautiful and I think it fits you perfectly! You have every right to be pleased and take tons of pictures of yourself. The print and the style suit you very well. This really makes me want to try my hand at the class, even though I don’t normally like projects that take so long. I’m not usually a fan of boning either, but what you said makes me want to give it a chance. That’s awesome that the dress is so breathable. You planned well for a May outdoor wedding. My sister-in-law got married in May ’09 in Nashville and the reception was outdoors. It wasn’t that warm, but it wasn’t cool either.
wow – that is stunning! no wonder you took so many pics! looks like it fits perfectly – all that time fitting was definitely worth it. i am going to do this course once i have a bit more experience under my belt, so hopefully later in the year.
Your dress looks perfect!!!!
Your dress turned out beautifully! I think the fit looks perfect, and I’m so glad you had an occasion to take it out for a spin! Congratulations!!
Very nice, and so good to see it finally finished. Good for you. It look stunning.
You / the dress are stunning and the fit is perfect!! You put the BOMB in bomshell!!!
WOW! So stunning!! I think this dress deserves a hundred shots… it’s a supermodel!! 😀
Thanks for the encouragement and tip on the bodice not lying flat; you certainly can’t tell, as your pics make it look perfect, but it’ll be good to know for when I do mine 🙂
You look totally gorgeous in your bombshell and you fabric choice was ace. I just hope you are not sick of it after all that work!
I love your fabric! And the fit is sooooo perfect!
You look *amazing*! I so want to steal that dress. lol. I really like how well it fits–and how beautifully the fabric meshes with the design. I just ordered some fabric to make a bustier version of this, and now I can’t wait to get started!
Lauren, that is THE bombshell dress, it’s so beautifully made and you look an absolute knock-out in it! x
Hi, I clicked over here from Sunni’s Stitching Spotlights post. Your Bombshell Dress is perfection! I love the fabric you chose. You’re inspiring me to make one–I have a Craftsy gift credit I need to use….
Lauren, you are too awesome and inspiring! Stop! You are so rocking that hot bombshell dress!
Absolutely fabulous!
I found you on Craftsy- such an awesome make! I am floored, I wish I could make a dress like this. !!! Sew kewl. New follower ;*
Ahh just bought the bombshell tute, and saw your dress out of all the completed ones.. LOVE it. So good:) Although I’m worried with the level I need to be at to finish it based on comments by such great seamstresses 🙂 Eeepp
Awesome dress!!! I’m mid way through making it and came across your blog. I’m also using the Craftsy tutorial and although lots of comments on there suggest that if the centre band doesn’t lie flat, it means your cups are too small, I’ve also read on a bra fitting site that it can be because you’re boobs are quite full in the centre. My cups definitely aren’t too big – any bigger and they’ll be very unattractively baggy 🙂 So I’m buying the reason above 🙂 I think yours looks just beautiful and not badly fitting at all – hopefully mine will be the same 🙂
The design os lovely, the pattern is my favorite part of the dress! SO beautiful!