When I thought about a pattern for this dress, I realized I needed a bodice with darts that came to a point. The skirt could simply be made of two batiste blocks with additional lace accents and a wide fancy band at the hem. I started with McCall’s #7279, fashioning a muslin first, so that I could make revisions for the actual Swiss Nelona dress.
Once the bodice was correctly fitted and made of Nelona, I began work on the embellishments, starting with the Paris Flea Market yoke piece, trimming it with the wide edging, which I mitered at the bottom to create the V-shaped lace bodice piece Jillian had envisioned. I then drew a pattern for a round yoke, just under 5 inches wide at the shoulder, which would achieve the high neckline and be joined to the V-shaped bodice piece. Penny and I made use of a lace shaping board with a round collar template to build the yoke and audition the order of the laces.
Since some of my antique laces were shorter cuts, it took us several tries with varying widths before we arrived at the best combination to create the round yoke. After the laces were joined in the round using French sewing techniques, we realized we would need to add another row of lace to the V-shaped bodice piece to make it proportional to the round lace yoke. Since I had initially framed this V-shaped piece with wide edging, I overlapped the edging onto the header of my chosen insertion and joined the laces together with a narrow zigzag. I attached the V-shaped bodice piece to the round lace yoke and then overlaid the joined pieces onto the Nelona bodice. Once the lacework was stitched to the dress, I cut the Nelona from behind and reinforced the lace edges.
