In case it wasn’t obvious from the skirt panels I cut, Shell’s wedding dress has a whole lot of hem. Metres and metres of it in fact, on both the crepe chiffon overskirt and the dotted swiss lining. Even once Shell stood in my living room for an hour while I carefully measured and cut and took off quite a bit of length and width from the skirt and train, there was a lot of hem left to do. I hand hemmed my own wedding dress, but I didn’t have the time or inclination to do that for Shell. My solution?  A rolled hem, using my rolled hem foot. And I was slow, and careful, and it came out perfectly. I stretched the hem just a tiny bit as I sewed it, so that it ruffles ever so slightly The whole thing drapes beautifully, and just hits the ground, so it doesn’t show Shell’s shoes unless she wants it too, and won’t get dirty on the grass.

The draping on Shell’s bodice may look gorgeous, but it came at a price. Well, at least the blood spot is on the selvedge and will be hidden by the seam binding! Having finished the tricky, glamorous bits I now get to do the fun, easy, just a little-bit quirky and eminently practical bits, namely, pockets! Yes, Shell’s wedding dress is having pockets. I think all wedding dresses should have pockets. Her pockets are made from a layer of the grey silk crepe chiffon over the dotted swiss, so that you only see the silk from the outside of the dress. The silk crepe isn’t strong enough to be pockets on its own, that’s why I’ve flat lined them with the dotted swiss. I finished the raw edges on the pockets with blue binding for extra fun and colour. They are just little pockets, with little hand-sizes slits, but Shell should be able to slip a handkerchief, her vows, and some lip balm in them on the big day – just what every bride needs! …

I’m sure some of you were wondering if I was every going to get to this point on Shell’s dress. Yes!  It’s here!  It’s done!  After an afternoon in Mrs C’s sewing room and another in mine all the ruching on has been draped on Shell’s bodice, and here is how I did it. First I sewed on the blue silk taffeta bindings from the back, but didn’t sew them down in front.  Then I basted on my first draping panel, and stood back to admire how beautifully it draped: Then I told Shell that she wasn’t going to be able to sit down, eat, or use the loo for the next four hours while I did the ruching on her bodice: With the bride under control, I began controlling the fabric, carefully pinning a pleat at the bodice centre, tacking it as it curved across the bust, and then pinning it at the side seam. It’s very time consuming and detailed work: getting all your pins in the right place (as opposed to the …