The Fabric Swatches and Brooch

After looking around for a few months at fabric, I order a number of different samples. In all kinds of pink and coral tones. And I finally decided on a color for the underdress and lining. I decided to go with a crepe back coral satin with a coral silk habotai. Again not looking for 100% authencity with this dress. I was looking for a fabric that had more flow and movement but was still stable enough to support the weight of the overlay and beading. With the dress being strapless it needed to be durable. For the overlay of this dress I chose a black silk chiffon. Hopefully all the beading that has to be done won't ruin the fabric. I haven't really work with silk chiffon enough to know that its going to do with the weight of the beads. So this is a new experience. Below is a snapshot of the 3 fabrics.

The under dress fabric shows up a lot more pinker than it really is. It has a more orange tone to it, like the lining fabric I chose. (tried to take a shot without the flash but they didn't turn out.) In person the fabrics are much more beautiful. The chiffon is a little more sheer than what is seen in the photo. I think it'll do perfectly. :)

The Brooch

No dinner dress is complete without the brooch. The brooch seen on the dress in the movie is made up of a triple figure eight with diamonds. The one found on the "Heaven" dress looks like a solid piece. We don't know much about the two pieces but here are the two different styles...

While searching the internet for a suitable brooch I ran across this site.. and it had the prefect brooch for this dress. It is not exactly like the two above, but it's pretty close. 70.15mm long, made from silver plated metal and studded with clear crystal. It was a reasonable price too! This lovely swarovski crystal brooch will almost be the highlight of the dress, next to all the beading of course!



The brooch, its even more gorgeous in person.

I'm so excited to order the fabrics and get started on this dress!

The Back of the Dress

I've got the sketches for the dress all drawn up. I always draw a sketch of the project I am about to do. It better helps me with putting the dress together, visualize the end product I am trying to achieve. For a long time I wasn't sure how the back of the dress looked, I'd sketched it out a dozen times. But not having any reference photos of the back was difficult. Before finding the pictures from the Oaklahoma exhibit, I had sketched out the back and came up with this:

My first attempt.

After drawing it up, I wasn't 100% sure how I was going to finish off the angles. It wouldn't look right if they just stopped. So back to the drawing board.. a.k.a. my sketch book. I eventually drew up a sketch of the back the is pretty similar to how the back of the original dress looks. Pretty close to what the back of the original don't you think?

The back of the drawing.

The back of the original.

After debating with myself, I decided that I didn't want to do such a drastic train. It still had to have something  though. So again, I went back to sketching out a new drawing of the back. Eventually I came up with something I liked and could do rather easily.

The final decision.

I think it gives the dress a little bit more of an update and can appeal more to another generation. As you can see the dress does not match the original 100%... I am not looking for 100% authenticity. My dress is going to be strapless with the option of adding sleeves if I were to ever have the heart to sell it. My goal for this dress is it get it done by April 15th 2012, the 100th anniversary of the sinking. Just in time for prom season and the movie to be re-released in 3D. That is all I have for now...

The Picture Library

After months of research (mostly looking at pictures of the dress lol), I've gathered together a library of photos to help me with the construction of the dress. We all know what the front of the dress looks like, the extensive beading and the cut of the angled overlay. There are numbers of pictures out there and 90% of them are of the front. We don't see a lot of pictures of the detail in the beading, or the back of the dress. And a lot of the pictures out there are the same.

Here you can see the right side of the dress where the back  is pinned and the  beading on the layers.

Promotion shot of the dress.





Flat sequins in silver and black faceted beads were used. 

Recently in 2010 there was an exhibit in Oklahoma where the dress was displayed. The pictures taken below couldn't be more helpful to anyone who wished to reproduce their own copy of the dress.






Here you can see the beading on the bodice. Look at that detail!



You can see the angle of the layers and how they fall.

A rare shot of the left side of the dress and the beading.

Close up of the front of the dress, and we can see the train as well. The detail on this dress is just exquisite.



The picture I have been searching for months! A very rare treat! Here we can see how the angles from the front flow towards the back.



Another shot of the back. see how the middle two layers of the dress flow into the train?

 With finding these pictures it better helped me understand the construction of the back and how the angles are cut. We can see where the top angle from the front stops and how the left side of the dress is pinned to the back and flows downward. The middle two layers of the dress make up the train, while the very last angled layer rounds out the bottom. Now to study these pictures some more. Stay tuned!!

A Blog About a Dress

So, you've happened upon my blog page... congratulations. As the title reads this blog is about Rose's Dinner Dress. Yes, the dress from the beloved film "Titanic".. you know, with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio? That one.  Anyway back to the point, with the 100th anniversary of the ships sinking coming up in April, I've decided to recreate one of the famous dresses that Kate wore from the film. The dinner dress. I absolutely fell in love with this dress. I even made my mom make me one for my junior prom, and since then I always had it in mind to one day make another one. This blog will follow the construction of the dress and the details that I've spent in researching it. So far I have spent months researching and looking at other dresses people have created. Which are absolutely beautiful... I've put together an extensive library of photos of the original dress, including pictures that are rare in finding of the back. I've study picture after picture, drew up sketches and i finally feel confident enough to finally start the construction phase. So stay tuned as more about this beautiful dress is posted. ;)