New Wedding Dress Project! Part 1

My friend Rachel, who has modeled for me and was in the music video we did last year, is getting married soon. She was having a hard time finding a dress she liked, so she decided to use her mom's old dress and make some modifications.

Rachel is 5'9 and her mom is 5'2, so the skirt ended up being too short on her. She asked me if I could construct a completely new bodice for her.

The wedding will be in the winter, so she was interested in the pannier style she had seen in Marie Antoinette, like below:

The first step was to get her measurements. I did a rough sketch and wrote down the measurements (she is tiny). The faux pannier in the front will be from a new fabric that matches the rest of the dress, and the sides will be made of the new fabric plus hopefully a lace overlay, and the sleeves will be recut from the lace. The tiny sketch on the side is a scooped back.