The Dressmaker: The Grace Kelly
In Which I Mostly Accuse Myself and My Machine
Finally! What do you mean, this is months late? A wizard(ess) is never late! She finishes her projects precisely when she means to.
(Actually, no.)
Between colds, finicky machines and fabrics, and plain intimidation and procrastination, this has been a frustrating project, although it’s also a dress I’ve wanted for years! It’s not 100% completed, but it’s enough to close out 2024, I think.
Originally, I was using a rayon knit as the base fabric; this is the base fabric for the skirt, but it wasn’t working for the bodice, as I found I wanted a bit more structure. I swapped it out for a pink broadcloth that was on clearance at Hobby Lobby, which is an improvement, as regards the structure.
Even with this change though, my sewing machine, which kept balking at the previous fabric combination no matter what I did, decided to do the same thing here. I found that shortening the stitch length and actually remembering to put the cap over the spool of thread to keep it in place (because I am chaos and I easily forget things) helped most of the time.
Me, going into this project: ha, everyone says these sheer fabrics and knits are so difficult. I’ve had trouble with knit, but not with sheer fabrics! They never give me any trouble, so this will be easy!
Well, that explains a lot. Yes, I did ask Our Lady and St. Margaret of Scotland, and Grace Kelly herself if she’s able, to help me get this done enough to post tonight. I think they helped!
Mostly what I have left to do is the pattern and embroidery on the back bodice, and adjusting the left side seam on both the bodice and skirt.
All that said, I’m actually pretty happy with how it fits, which I was definitely having my doubts about throughout the project!
Before I show you the dress, allow me to mention my “genius” temporary hack for the bodice embroidery. There is a deceptively massive amount of embroidery, and different motifs, on the original dress. Since I knew I wasn’t going to be able to actually embroider them before I posted, I decided to meticulously cut out lace pattern pieces for each design and (because there were way more than I thought) I used a strong fabric adhesive rather than stitching them.
This serves two purposes: a) it’s wearable without feeling incomplete, and b) I can embroider a few motifs at a time whenever I feel like embroidering something, using the lace as a guide.
On the other hand, I like that it looks a bit quirky and cute, so I might keep the lace, as my own twist on the outfit.
Another thing I changed from my sketch is that I didn’t attach sleeves. The sleeves were proving too heavy for the bodice, so I’m going to make a separate tee with the knit I was originally using for the base fabric, and attach the sleeves to it. That will also mean that I can swap it out for a different blouse or wear the bodice as a vest with another outfit.
Some things I learned about the original costume, aka, notes for future recreations:
This may be per my Floridian fabric decisions, rather than going with wool crepe, but I believe the original bodice still has more structure than the one I’ve made, so I suspect a light to midweight interfacing might help here.
Also, you can’t see it in the photos I’ve taken, and I may have mentioned this previously, but I chose to create the skirt with a yoke, to help it lie flat beneath the extended waist of the bodice, and to keep the pleats from being too pushed out of place while it’s being worn. I’ve seen examples of skirts like this from the 50’s, but another possibility I noted from a conservation video on the iconic Dior Bar Suit (aka the classic New Look that set off the 50’s style), in which a similar effect was achieved by tacking down the pleats of the skirt beneath the jacket.
One thing that I realized yesterday when I was working on the lace and studying the embroidered designs, is that it’s not symmetrical. The pattern is mostly mirrored, but at a slant, and not every mirrored pattern is actually the same shape.
As someone who loves symmetry but is terrible at it, that was amazing, because it meant I didn’t really have to worry too much about whether everything was in the right spot or the right shape.
Also, I’d like to note that the pattern is embroidered on, at least from what I read. I can just imagine the embroiderer deciding they needed and had earned a break from symmetry and having a field day with haphazardly sketching the pattern they were given.
Lessons learned from this recreation:
Don’t let a project simmer too long or I will make it drag out further. Also, I allowed myself to be intimidated by parts of this project and kept putting it off, so I should probably actually refer to videos and my sewing books for things instead of trying to puzzle it out most of the time. In sewing for myself, I take a lot of shortcuts, based on my time and energy, and that’s not always a good idea. Those are some things I need to work on in 2025, where sewing is concerned.
Last note: I’m just thinking now, that this is the outfit Grace Kelly wears when her character is driving; that road was the one she later had her fatal accident on. I’m going to take this dress as an opportunity to pray for her whenever I wear it, and that makes me want to recreate more film costumes in memory of the ladies who wore them.
Anyway, I’m happy to have this project off my list, or nearly, anyway, I’ll finish it on Friday, and I’m looking forward to getting to the next dress on my list! Have a blessed feast and a happy new year, all!
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