Dearest sewing friends!
I was super-happy to complete an outfit which, a) didn't fall apart or move around, b) was of a standard fit for the oltra-glamorosi folks who were attending the wedding (dressed to the nines and then some!), and c) allowed me to move around, sit, stay cool and feel comfortable - throughout a very intense and over-stimulating day!
A day prior to the event though, I was assuming my white top would be perfect with the black polkadot transparent skirt - but despite doing a ton of work to remove the peplum, replace the zip and take up the hem - it was too tight around my chest (to be wearing all day in excrutiating heat)!
I will alter this, but I really didn't want to do any big alterations on the day before the wedding... so ditched the white top for another top altogether, after getting in a bit of a flap!
So I picked up this black lace waistcoat, and began playing with it - initially thinking about wearing it 'backwards' to allow it to fit better, then using a green silk sash to break up the black:
The green sash is from a beautiful dress I've been deconstructing for a while!
The black 'waistcoat' is another of my 50c market stall finds: not something I'd usually wear ( I dislike waistcoats a lot), but I really liked the needlework, and thought it could be used somehow, one day...
I was trying to get it to sit actually over my breasts, but it had very deep armholes, and even back-to-front, it felt wrong.
And the sash was too hard to get to sit nicely too; it pulled at the delicate fabric and wasn't worth sewing in place.
Then! Pulling and pushing on the overall shape of the waistcoat, it became evident that I could in fact just raise the shoulders and it would fit beautifull! Above are the shoulder strips I cut out.
After getting the basic shape right, and sewing the shoulder seam closed in a way which looked right - I had to make it close at the front:
Again, this took a lot of mental figuring out, with the very subtle balance of the fabric, which couldn't be strained any one way - I thought of lacing it up with a thin black ribbon, but then got an idea from the lace I'd cut out of the shoulders...
I pinned it into the fronts of the new-styled top, and reinforced three of the circles - then added poppers / snaps to them:
The final effect was perfect: no pulling on the lace, and the poppers were the right size - thank you to my gran's and mum's sewing inheritance that have been sitting in the sewing box for years waiting for their time to shine!!
A heck of a lot of very careful ironing, using a cotton cloth over the top to stop any flattening and shiny-ing of the needlwork - and the top was ready.
Then the final trying-on, which I shouldn't have left to the morning of the event! The skirt felt too-much-transparency to be paired with top and the original glamour high-heels that I'd planned - too much revealing altogether! So I put a long cotton underskirt under it instead: keeping the cool layering for the terrible heat, and keeping my modesty and comfort in check.
And my Roman sandals were underneath: elegant enough for me, but more importantly - practical and comfortable :-D
The wedding was glorious, but veeery loud and busy, lots of waiting around in near-100° temperatures, and waaaay more food or drink than one can fit in a body in one day! All day meal!!
We sneaked off to chill by the pool several times!
A couple of snaps of the beautiful couple, and the spaces - church in Guardia Sanframondi, and venue up on the hills towards Caserta:
All in all, it felt deeply satisfying to have a complete outfit which sat really well - despite (or perhaps because of?!) all the different branches of the project!
I felt rather proud to fit in too: the outfit was not overly elegant or revealing, but still was on a par with all the other women there - I'd have loved to have taken photo portraits of them all: it was a spectacular range of colour, sequin, mock-silk and drama!