Pink and Blue Lace Overlay Goodness

** Hi there. :)

Today I wish to take you on a bit of a journey from the start to finish of Ms. N’s Aso-Ebi for a wedding last Saturday (8/15). I had made a dress with overlay before (here) but not one that was fitted and then, bam!!, I had 2 lace overlay dresses in the span of a couple of weeks (see the other one here – yellow and pink). This was new territory as I had never done boning before but I decided this dress needed it.

There was a bit of crying involved but I won’t get ahead of myself. Just enjoy the journey.

Ms. N came by my place with 3 different fabrics for this dress (more on the gold one later; there was another blue fabric that she took back) and a bunch of ideas and Pinterest photos. We finally settled on a mermaid style dress with a sweetheart neckline underneath, cap sleeves and gathered ruffles.

Started with the sweetheart neckline bodice and boning.

Made the lace overlay bodice and attached to the front and back pieces of the main dress.

Started to work on the bottom ruffle and realized it might not be long enough so I sent Ms. N another option: adding the pink lace to the ruffle. She gave me the go-ahead.

Added the lace sleeves and the attached the ruffle (flounce?) to the bodice and it was ready for the first fitting.

After the first fitting, I had to make the following adjustments:

-          Remove the pink lace strip (Ms. N thought it was too much pink and the dress ended up too long; I overestimated her heel height for the day).

-          Add bias binding to all the lace seams (they were too itchy as is).

-          Take in the sides at the hip (the weight-gain plan wasn’t going as planned).

-          Use a longer zipper.

Here’s where the crying (figuratively) came in. I loved this version of the dress and it made me a bit sad to take it apart to make the changes. I wonder if other sewers feel this way sometimes …

We hit a bump when I couldn’t find a longer zipper than what I had used so I sent Ms. N a suggestion on how we could treat the back so that the zipper is lowered: something I used for the back of my lace and ankara peplum top (here).

I stayed up late to make all the alterations and dropped off the finished dress at her home. She wasn't in so I didn't get to see her try it on before the wedding.

Many thanks to Boss for getting a few pictures for me ...

I think she likes the dress :)

Orange & Green, Long Sleeves on Long Dresses

* Hi there. For this week's post, I am featuring 2 long sleeve dresses I recently made for 2 ladies in my church; RCCG Love Assembly (@rccgloveassembly).

The first one (orange) was for Mrs. K to wear to our Mother's Day (5/10) service. She wanted something fitting, long sleeves and a fishtail silhouette.
Every year, the mothers (Virtuous Women) pick a fabric and they all show up in coordinating outfits.
You can just feel the love and oneness. Also, all the married women and mothers (including visitors) go home with a gift every year.

The second one (green) was for Ms. G to wear to her nephew's baby dedication (5/17). She had been away in school and gave me her fabric with only 3 days to make the dress (time crunch!!!).
I'm so happy it fit her perfectly the first time and she told me she loves it soooo much.

** Enjoy the pictures and videos below.
*** Find us on Facebook (Zichie Designs) and Instagram (@zichie_designs and @e_fazion) or email (zichiedesigns[at]gmail.com).

Orange Dress

Virtuous Women

Green Dress

The Making 

(Before the sleeves and sneak peak on the inside)

Dancing

The best part for me was seeing them dancing and looking at home in their dresses.

Thank you ladies for the support.

Fish-tail/Mermaid Skirts

    * I don't know what it is about fish-tail or mermaid style skirts but it makes ladies feel really pretty. Maybe it's the way it fits and then flares. I made 3 of such skirts in the space of about a month for 3 ladies and I think it is time to make one for me :)
  ** Check out the 'Hers' page for other pictures.
*** Check us out on Instagram @zichie_designs

Ms. J's Skirt - I really like the fabric and the way the ombré is set up.

She was going to wear it with a pale pink top but I must say the black top works great!!

Ms. N's High-Waist Skirt - This was an express request and was done in about 3 days.

I paired it with a blue blouse on the mannequin but Ms. N wore it with a white blouse.