After various delays, here's the final installment chronicling the adventure of making my wedding dress! (Read part one and part two.)

I toyed with the idea of draping the skirt somehow, over an underskirt of the lace, but couldn't come up with anything that looked right – and I liked how it looked with the lace jacket and simple, elegant satin skirt. So I set the draping idea aside. But I wanted a way to tie the satin from the skirt onto the jacket, in a way that would also outline the faux bolero look of the jacket. 

Flowers were a good solution.

I made them in several different sizes – they were very easy, too. I made a basic yo-yo similar to the ones used for these shoe clips, starting with different sizes of circles. Once gathered, instead of letting them round, I bound them into petals – some with 4, and some with 5 – and sewed the centers full of small glass pearl beads.

So I made a bunch and began to play with them, pinning them to the mannequin.

Keep it simple? Three on each side?

How about continuing them in a single line all the way around the neck? I do like this look and maybe will implement it in a later project.

I could do an asymmetrical look like a corsage on one side…

…or do smaller matching corsages on each side, following the curve of the neckline.

That last option I decided was my favorite, so I went with that one, pinning them to overlap and then tacking them down. I soon decided that I wanted to tie in the pearls in the flowers by using pearls around the flowers – also softening the embellishment. So out came the pins again and I pinned individual pearls randomly around the embellishments and neckline.

It added a nice touch, though the pearls were tricky to sew in place without pulling the rest of the pins out! Everything coordinated beautifully, even though I was working with several shades of white.

All finished! All that was left was to press the skirt and cover the dress up to keep it dust free for the big day.

What a project! Certainly my most ambitious to date. It took a long time and was a lot of work, but I think it was worthwhile. And I don't think it turned out too homemade looking, which was my hope.

I love that now I have a true heirloom to pass on to my children. Maybe someday a daughter of mine will wear the dress, or the wreath and veil!