Beading and Ruching...Ruching and Beading

So, there is a lot of detail that goes into Victorian dresses.  We, constantly, make the jokes that we are decorating wedding cakes and Christmas trees!  It really is impossible to have too much.

Here, Amanda, is hand beading to add life and color to the black halter dress that is the base for, this particular gown.  The dress already had some small black beading on it, but the larger beads in copper and gold, really add sparkle.  A cheap add, just time consuming...

To the right, is a close up of Amanda's work.  The Lt Copper fabric being shown as a peek-a-boo affect, is replacing an original white satin.

Ellie, took on the task of starting to construct the bustle piece.  Taking fabric, we already had in stock, she took both ends of the fabric and added gathers, that will hang as ruching on either side of the bustle.  You can kind of see the effect in the photo, above.

Here is the original dress.  It is still very easy to see it in the above pictures, but it still has a long way to go...