Wedding Sewing: Finished Bolero

  Well, I promised you a couple modeled shots of my bolero once it was finished, and it finally is. That was WAY too much hand-stitching for a slowpoke like me! First, I succeeded in neatly (though imperfectly) finishing the edges of the bolero:

 
  I started off with a whip-stitch for the first 4 inches, realized I hated the way it looked, and sewed about half with a ladder-stitch before finishing with a slip-stitch. I liked the way the slip-stitch looked on the inside best of the three, but it does show a bit under the lace... whip-stitch is on the bottom right and the show-through from the slip-stitch is on the left.

  I finally looked up how to do an invisible hand blind hem stitch (Fourth diagram on this site.) and used that on the sleeve hems. That came out beautifully, though I'm not sure how well it would work if I were to try it on the curved areas.

  And now, how it looks on me. I'm not wearing it with the bridesmaid's dress, since I haven't finished the alterations on mine and it isn't anywhere close to fitting me right now. I may have to change the sleeves on mine, since they are already a little tight and I have over a month to gain 'pregnancy' weight. ;-)

  I feel a little awkward with the way the bolero is open in the front, but I think it will look a lot better over the dress than it does over this tank. =)

  I might go back and add a hook and eye at the center front, since the bolero actually does easily meet there if I hold it.

  Left on the list of wedding sewing: Boleros for the sisters, alterations on my dress, and a flower-girl dress for the daughter.

  I managed to get all the pieces for the boleros cut out today! My bolero took a ridiculously long time, but I ended up with enough lining fabric to actually line the bodices of the other two. That makes me very happy, since I will only have to hand-hem the sleeves. Honestly, I have enough lining to line their sleeves too, but I don't want to make them too warm or bulky, since this will be a mid-summer wedding. Also, I think another layer in the sleeves might make them tight even on my sisters' slender arms.

  I find it odd that I ended up with so much extra lining... and so much extra lace too. I suppose when cutting three boleros instead of one, I can be more efficient in my layout. I DID buy an extra yard of each in case of accidents... but I have a whole lot more than a yard leftover. I think the extra must have come from miscalculating how much I would need for the length additions.
 
  I'm really hoping to get all this done soon, since I feel like I'm missing out on so much other sewing I want to do. I have a unique and fun maternity top planned out in my head, and it would fit perfectly in Made by Rae's Spring Top Sew-Along, and a skirt planned out that I would love to enter in Crafterhours' Skirt week... I just need to get the wedding stuff done first so it is out of the way.

  And that's all the talking I have to do today! Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers, grandmothers and mother-figures out there. =)

Thanks for stopping by,