Kara dress by Patterncouture for Lidia, for Zara and Connor's Wedding

 More special wedding sewing...

It was a very special day and Lidia needed a very special posh frock.

I found the Kara dress on Etsy and loved the sleeve, the drama!!!!

We decided to sew a calico muslin as the fabric was quite expensive and it was a new to us pattern company. It is just as well we did as although Lidia's measurements put her in the size S the bottom did not fit at all!

I unpicked the back skirt and recut it adding width in increments up to 5cm on each side at the widest.

Lidia is rather small busted so we like to add padding to the lining. I didn't have any new ones left so I cut up an old bra and covered the foam with scraps of fabric and attached them to the lining. The original dress did not have a lining so I cut one same as main, sewed the two dresses right sides together and then treated them as one.

This worked okay but not great. I feel like you can see a subtle shape on the finished dress. Next time I will use a thin nude jersey or tricot.

The brocade was lovely to sew. It was a dead stock I purchased from an online store in Australia. I would have loved to tell you about them but the owner left me on read when I requested permission to share the website. I always check first and they were only people who have not responded to me in all my blogging.

I added a sleeve next, just basting it to check the fit. It was very snug but wearable as one doesn't exactly do manual labour in a posh frock.

The sleeves are left unlined. I chose to press a narrow, double hem and then hand sew that in place. It took an age but was well worth it. 

I attached the facing and understitched by machine but hand sewed the edges down, catching it mainly to the lining and only to the main every 10 cm or so. I also bound the sleeve seam, continuing that binding under the arm so it was neatly finished.

There was a lot of hand sewing on this dress. Luckily Jerry and I had an interstate trip and did 18 hours driving over two days so I was able to do that then. Car sewing has the best light.

I finished the lining with a nice deep hem. This dress is very, very short and I hoped the deeper hem would help the lining stay in place. I also sewed thread chains at each seam.

I thoroughly enjoyed sewing this dress. It was a challenge and the instructions were adequate but I did sew it my own way due to seam finishes and adding the lining. 

As I said before I adore the drama  of this frock, the backless style, the sleeves, the uber short hem.

The perfect sparkly button from my stash.

Lidia looked incredible.

The peach brocade set of her milky white skin and dark brown curls.

Lidia and Airlie, and up and coming designer with her own label here

Ben and Lidia made a striking couple.

It was a very special day.

Thank you so much for reading ... xx Nicole