Victorian nontraditional wedding dress; Jewellery

Got the pearl choker done today! And a little bracelet, though that one wasn’t planned for one bit, just hit me that it’d be nice making a little matching set, and I was at it anyway, so why not simply continue?

I don’t know why, but the thought hit me that had he had elf ears this would have been the perfect “Elf having a human wedding” (and loving those giant Victorian dresses too much to pass on the chance to actually wear one as well).

I’m considering making more pearl chokers/necklaces and bracelets to sell at some point, Could be fun doing commissions on those at some point :3

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Startup One Two

Elliptical Cage Crinoline One Two

Undergarments

Corset One Two Three

Petticoat

Main Skirt One Two

Jacket

Decor One Two Three

Jewellery

The odd ramble in between

Wig One Two Three Four

Shoes

Wedding Bouquet

Veil

Victorian style nontraditional wedding dress; decor and accessories

Finished (nearly)all of the decor on the dress; every single rose, leaf - be it fabric or metal, every single of the some 300 pearls, and rhinestones. Only thing missing are some little pointy back rhinestones that I’ll be gluing into each rose on the dress and accessories, have yet to show up in the mail.

Made a little pouch “for little bits and bobs”, can’t have a dress without something to carry whatever it is you need to carry, right? Made a pair of wrist cuffs from pieces of rose lace and decided against adding rhinestones or any other wild decor, to keep them neutral as there is enough going on on the dress itself, so simply tied them with a little bow.

The fur shawl could have been a done deal, but didn’t entirely know what I wanted before calling it a night and having started fiddling around with making a pearl choker. But going to use the entire length of the piece of fur, around 1m, going to sew the edges together and then decorate it with montees, roses, filigree leafs. Not much, but I still want some on to have everything match in a sense.

So, last up, the pearl choker. Had bought some metal trim with rhinestones and glass beads, but didn’t quite work out as intended, so had to rethink. First I though of making a long chain of 5mm montees, but then I was all nah, and looked down at those tiny little white pearls, and thought why not. Never made a pearl necklace before, sure, in kindergarden or something, but those were so super basic and nothing advanced like this. Have a few dozen more pearl rings to make and then sit and sew them all together. There will only be one montee droplet, like the one pictured, which will go in the midle, two others will only sport a single 3mm montee. Thinking I’ll use satin ribbon to tie it with once it’s done, I don’t have any other lock small enough for the purpose

Hope being able to finish the necklace tomorrow along with the shawl. Then it’s just a wedding bouquet, a pair of shoes (where I’m still waiting on the feet to arrive in the mail as I need HH-feet) and a wig that needs to be made. Slowly, but surely, nearing the end!

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Startup One Two

Elliptical Cage Crinoline One Two

Undergarments

Corset One Two Three

Petticoat

Main Skirt One Two

Jacket

Decor One Two Three

Jewellery

The odd ramble in between

Wig One Two Three Four

Shoes

Wedding Bouquet

Veil

Victorian inspired nontraditional wedding dress decor - WIP

So, kicked my ass these past few days, or really mostly today, wish seeing to getting closer to the finish line on this dress.

Spent yesterday attaching some leaf trim and satin roses plus filigree leafs onto the skirt. Took quite a while doing all that, now I just need to sew it onto the skirt. Have some little green pearls I'm thinking I'll be using a few of for every leaf.

Today I then finished hand sewing the ruffle onto the jacket, all 160cm of it, but just look at that! Looks so much better than I had imagined, going to decorate it with lots of satin roses and those little shiny montees (they're a lot more shiny in proper daylight) and I am considering sewing a little white pearl on each side of the montees.

Also decorated a big removable bow that sits on the back of the jacket, took some of the length off of the top bow, was way too massive and looked ridiculous.

Have so much decorating left before I can call it a day for the dress, but when I get there there will be even more to do! Have jewellery, gloves, a wig and a pair of shoes to make, a fur shawl, a small purse of sorts, wedding bouquet, and, I think that's it, oh, veil! Busy, busy, busy!

Extra:

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Startup One Two

Elliptical Cage Crinoline One Two

Undergarments

Corset One Two Three

Petticoat

Main Skirt One Two

Jacket

Decor One Two Three

Jewellery

The odd ramble in between

Wig One Two Three Four

Shoes

Wedding Bouquet


Veil

Victorian inspired main skirt decor - wip

Have taken up this project once more! Need to get it sewn together and not have it take another 2-2½ years. Added some lace and a ruffle garland which haven’t been attached yet. Going to sew the ruffle on by hand as I want to sew some pearls onto it along with metal roses. There will be pearl string garlands, metal leaves, little satin ribbon bows, and to top it all off there will be a myriad of little rhinestones glued all over. Also need to do something about the length on the front, still so much work left to do on the skirt!

Also made a long string of ruffles for the jacket which will also get to be hand-sewn with pears and other little bits. On the back I have this big bow that will get some pearl string attached, roses and rhinestones to match.

Now that is is an nontraditional wedding dress there needed to be a veil. Bought two of these as I don’t have any experience in making them. Going to modify one of them a bit to fit once I get to that point, will have to fit with the wig I am going to be sitting sewing at some point.

Now I just hope those metal roses, rhinestones, veils, and pearl string arrive in the mail soon!

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Startup One Two

Elliptical Cage Crinoline One Two

Undergarments

Corset One Two Three

Petticoat

Main Skirt One Two

Jacket

Decor One Two Three

Jewellery

The odd ramble in between

Wig One Two Three Four

Shoes

Wedding Bouquet

Veil

Robe a la Française Inspired Ball Gown (miniature)

This dress only came to be because I had to sew a new one for an exhibition competition, one held at the first ever Danish BJD convention. Found out that there were some space restrictions, and the dress I was working on far exceeded those by more than double. It made me put the dress I was already working on on-hold and pour all of my time and energy into this project instead. I must say it was torture not to simply share it all with people, but did cave in and posted a few teaser bits here and there, just couldn't help it.

Already being immersed in all things ruffles, crinoline cages, and historical inspired dress making, it was pretty easy coming up with a new idea. Because of it having to be that much smaller (not exceeding 30cmx30cm all too much) I chose to make it for an MSD. Never sown anything like this for such a small size, but I was all up for the challenge!

The lucky victim, my little porcelain beauty: Norman

(DF-A Bach WS hybrid DC Kid boy body WS)

Materials

Cotton voile for undergarments and lining of the skirt, satin ribbon, cotton lace trim for petticoat, fabric for the dress itself, and lace trim for sleeves and other.

Also going to use various mulberry flowers, pearls, and metal leaves.

Undergarments

I didn't sew the socks, bought them from a seller on etsy. Didn't have a pattern for a pair that would fit those thin legs nor did I have any fitting lace laying around for the purpose.
The patterns for the bloomers and chemise was easy to draft, had made a chemise like it before, all I needed to do was scale it down to fit.

Didn't have any other lace but some with pearls sticking up from it, idea being that the jacket would be attached to it, the pearls acting like buttons. My original idea was to use buttons on the back, but then I thought, why not use eyelets now that I had some laying around? Looked pretty good to me so that's what I did.

Cage crinoline

This was such fun putting together, already had an idea how big I wanted the bottom hoop to be so all I had to do was scale the pattern down to fit. The hoops in the bag piece are steel wires, all the rest is plastic.

Petticoat

Had already made this piece prior to this one, just a lot bigger. Very simple and easy putting together and looks absolutely stunning!

Instead of using fabric for the waistband I used lace, would also make the job easier of how to close it up in the back which would easily be done using some ribbon and a hook clasp. Also adds some nice detail to it though it will ultimately be hidden away underneath a skirt.

Main skirt

This one was fun sewing, lots of ruffles! Instead of making it an ordinary skirt I added tubes for ribbon in the top layer. Originally I had only meant for there to be two layers of ruffle but didn't like that in certain angles you'd be able to see the lining.

Jacket

I had so many ideas for this and man was it a pain to sew because everything was so small.

The top layer of the ruffle on the sleeve is easily removed as I chose to not attach it, looks good with just the single row of ruffles as well. Had meant to sew them onto the sleeve, but because everything was so small, not doing it became easier.

Bonnet

Found a pattern for this bonnet on DoA, feel bad for not remembering who made it originally. Modified it a bit to suit my needs as it was originally a closed up bonnet in the back.

Decorating

This was the really fun part! It signified that the end was near and that I could soon sit back and enjoy my creation.

First I sat sewing pearls onto there the top ruffle was attached along with on the jacket and the rim of the bonnet. Then I made little bows that were attached above the ribbon shirring in the top layer of the skirt along with a metal leaf and a pearl. And because I could I also sat attaching those metal leaves and a single pearl to the ribbon shirring hidden under the skirt though it wouldn't be seen, but details you know?

Made a necklace that would be attached onto the pearls on the shoulders to give them a function rather than simply sticking up rather oddly like that. The bonnet I had a field trip with, attached a whole bunch of mulberry flowers and leaves, metal leaves, little glittering stones and pearls.

I had wanted to add tiny little hotfix rhinestones to the skirt but it proved absolutely impossible without one of those applicator wands so ordered one up. Going to add rhinestones once it arrives, not a whole lot, but enough to have it glitter here and there.

Final result

Materials used: cotton voile, cotton, satin ribbon, pearl and lace trim, white cotton lace trim, steel wire, mulberry flowers, metal leaves, pearls

Patterns: selfmade, trulyvictorian (free pattern for petticoat), DoA

Time spent: 60+ hours