I had the honor of designing a hand painted guipere lace jacket for an upcoming wedding reception. My client decided to wear her black pants already in her wardrobe. After searching for fabric and finding something suitable I received swatches in the mail thanks to B&J Fabrics.
Together my client and I picked out a beautiful colorful lace.
We had 3 fittings. First, a muslin of the style that my client prefers. As a custom couturier and since she is a repeat customer I pretty much knew her body type. She wanted to frame her face with a ruffle that she loves. After the first fitting I put together the ‘fashion’ fabric for our second fitting with my idea of how to ‘pop’ the colorful textile. I chose deep blue as the lining. I also chose to break up the patterned lace with a contrast neck ruffle in the same blue. See below.
With today’s technology in order to speed up the process I emailed my client for her thoughts. Here’s her comment, “I want the collar to be all lace, I don’t like the contrast color”. I’m from the school of thought that the customer is always right, so I immediately changed it up. I removed the idea of putting the detail at the hip as well.
Fast forward to the second fitting. The collar became heavy as I had to use 2 layers and needed for it to stand up. The shape was determined, but the technique took some practice runs. I was going to hold up the collar with stays, but I didn’t want to put them in the inside. I had to make sure the collar stay went beyond the actual collar into the neckband stay. This would keep the collar standing up and close to the face. The way it is sewn around the neckline opening also helps the front part of the collar to stand upright. You should also note that the sleeves are NOT lined and the asymetrial hemline.
Another trick I like to use is finishing a garment so that it is interesting. With this particular lace I decided to apply glue the edges to create a stiff surface so that when I zigzaged the edges they wouldn’t fray. This fabric was so delicate that it had a tendency to fray if not treated first. It was a good solution and made the jacket stand away from her body.
In order to get the shape of a bustline and waistline I decided to overlay the guipere lace and zigzag that finished as well. One can hardly see that detail, but the jacket has a graceful shape that slims the body but doesn’t hug it. When I cut out the jacket I placed the pattern pieces next to each other so that the repeat of the design was not interrupted. You can hardly see where the two front pieces come together because of this. It has snaps to keep it closed.
The interesting detail of the neckline framing my client’s face is how it stands up. Although you can’t see it, adding the bones in the back covered with lace was one of the last steps I took in this design. Note the finished edges, alittle raw, but on trend in today’s marketplace. See more on Pinterest.
Fall is such a beautiful time of year, and this jacket photographed so well with the changing colors. I think this jacket would be a nice Mother of the Bride/Groom design for a garden wedding. Check out other Mother of the Bride ensembles.
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