A Long Ago Wedding Dress

Isn't this so gorgeous? This is my pal's wedding dress and she was ready to release it to me for a makeover. There are so many directions I could take it . I could not resist all the lace and of course the pink.

There were many layers to the dress. The front had this overlay lace that covered the shoulders and neck area.

I wanted to make the lace really pop out and be noticed!
And of course what gown isn't complete without shoulder pads. Jeez.
Not only were there shoulder pads but get a load of these little additions to puff up the shoulders even more. These had to go.
I decided to cut all the top lace off except for a v-shaped area by the neckline. I had plans to make the lace pop out and be noticed.
Major surgery here as I cut the dress into a long top. There were multiple layers to be reckoned with.
So off came the sheer overskirt.

Then the under part of the dress was a goner.
I carefully excavated the long sleeves.
With the sleeves gone, this is what was left - delicate and swanky all in one feel swoop! Now we're talking~ I pinned the underarm seams so they wouldn't fray and sewed them down nice and delicately.
Now to work on the neckline...As I mentioned I envisioned the lace neckline being the rockstar it deserves. So I gently pealed back the pink underblouse so just the lace would show through.
Peekaboo lace is all sewed up and ready to have its debut. Smashing!
I was afraid to use my machine with the sheer silky fabric so did the hemming by hand.
Big oops here - contrary to popular rumors, Martha Stuart I am not. I tried to iron the back of the creation and melted a bit of the lace. Luckily I had salvaged the sleeves so I trimmed a portion of the lace and carefully covered the damage done.
I glued it! Yeah ok, not exactly out of Vogue magazine but it worked. You'd have to look verrry closely to see the damage control. And it feels a tad stiff where the gluing occurred but I'm happy with the result.
Now I was ready to try the finished product on. Check out these peekaboo sleeves!
The neckline with the lace became the focal point. Look up close, go ahead. It's ok with me.
The back needed a slight adjustment to give the neckline room to breath so I unzipped it a couple of inches, folded and sewed it in place.
The belt was made from the sheer castoff (formerly the skirt portion of the dress). Now this dress-turned-tunic ushers in New Years Eve, not a long ago wedding!