The Princess Bride Wedding Dress

The  inspiration:

Wedding dress from the movie 'The Princess Bride'.

The movie dress appears to be a semi sheer blue/silver floral brocade with a high waistline, lacing in front. Extra long slim sleeves with flowing oversleeves. Bodice appears to be decorated with some type of silver metallic lace. Cream/white sheer chemise accented with jewel trim.

My fabric -  a vintage cream/silver brocade drapery in a scroll and diamond pattern. The moment I saw the fabric, the Princess Bride dress and the Ever After 'breathe' dress came to mind. The Princess Bride dress won.

I used a combination of several pattern to achieve the look of the dress.

Bodice:

 Based on the Regency short stays from the Sense and Sensibility Underthings Pattern

 Over sleeve:

 Patterns of Fashion: The Cut and Construction of Clothes for Men and Women c.1560-1620 

by Janet Arnold - oversleeve pattern pg. 113

Under Sleeve:

based on Patterns of Fashion 1: 1660-1860

by Janet Arnold - Regency sleeve pattern pg. 48

Skirt:

based on skirt from Sense and Sensiblity Regency Gown Pattern

Inspiration Pictures:

The closest historical basis I could find for the dress were a few Italian Renassaince pieces, and some silhouettes from the late 13th c.

I thought about jumping off something for the photo shoot, but *ahem* decided against it.

The sleeves turned out perfect - the Tudor-era over sleeve pattern from the Janet Arnold book was just the right shape, length, and drape. I did have a little trouble during construction, though. The sleeve was so heavy that it was pulling  the bodice down off the shoulders! But - after I added a drawstring at the neckline, that really helped to keep everything in place.

I also had a bit of a dilemma about how to work out the front lacing opening on the bodice with the ungathered skirt front. I finally decided to make the dress two pieces. Thus, the skirt is not attached to the front-opening bodice, it is back opening and attached to 'suspenders'. (I saw this method on a Regency dress in 19th C. Fashion in Detail) The bodice laces with cream ribbon through hand sewn eyelets.

In the movie, Buttercup's dress appears to have a semi-sheer chemise underneath. I decided to make mine out of two layers - one of muslin and one of sheer voile. That way I could get the look of the soft sheer, but not the immodest transparent-ness. :^) The trim on the chemise is a broken vintage pearl necklace that I hand-stitched into place.

The crown is a rhinestone tiarra that was leftover from the drama days.

Skirt is plain in front, at sides and back has large pleats facing the center back, and comes to a slight train at hem.

Yeah! Now I just need a place/event to wear the dress - and my 'true love' to show up, right?