Titanic Dinner Dresses
Jennifer Rouch is a professional seamstress in Florida. Above is her version of Rose's dinner gown. Wow! She writes, "The Dinner dress was fully lined and made of caviar beaded black chiffon and then beaded using hot fix swarowski crystals 1000 black diamond, jet and crystal stones. It has a train and train holder that can be worn around the wrist. It is accented by a rhinestone button on the side and invisible zipper back. The coral underdress is of rich taffeta, and lined with coral china silk. I had such a great experience making this gown ( watching the movie TONS of times ;-)) that I also made a matching drawstring bag. I was so flattered when I listed this on ebay in October that I recieved at least 10 emails asking me if it was a J. Peterman!!!" Beautiful work, Jennifer!
I simply love the delicious coral-rose color of the satin Christine chose for the underlayer on this version of the dinner dress! It is eye-popping. The soft chiffon overlay with its beading is also wonderful. Great job, Christine!
Mickey shared these stunning photographs above of her absolutely beautiful, radiant daughter on her wedding day! Mickey made the "Heaven" gown. She writes, "Just for a teaser, and you know what it takes, I hand beaded 9 yards of 54"wide lace for this dress. I enjoy beading, it's calming to me and the results are always very satisfying. The under dress is strapless, a-line, McCall's 'Evening Elegance' pattern #2954 (without the bodice band).The fabric is periwinkle blue, Dupioni silk, underlined with hair-o-form and lined with fine, 100%cotton. Of course there is a muslin 'corset' of boning in the bodice in the usual places (center front, under bust, sides, back, 11 total) and horizontally along the top front to keep the center front from gaping. The lace is English embroidered net (border design). I chose it for its draping abilities and found it wonderful to work with. English net is tough and holds the weight of 'diamond' sequins, two sizes of pearls, Austrian, sew-on, flat crystals (two sizes) and faceted Austrian crystal drops. The sleeves are bias net, draped to fit. Because of the bias sleeve edge at the neckline, I hand tacked 1/4" clear elastic under the lace edging to hold the sleeve close to the body. The finished edges on the sleeves and the back wrap around piece are first spot glued for positioning, hand sewn, then beaded. Be sure to use a good fabric glue, that does not yellow, for this project. The matching veil is made from a bias piece of the English net with pearls, crystals and 'rat tail' edging. If anyone has questions feel free to contact me via e-mail at mickmc@swbell.net". Kudos to Mickey!
Jennifer Czech has really been turning out the "Titanic" reproductions! Isn't this a beautiful version of the "Heaven" dress? The details are super.
Claudia shared the photographs above of her adorable daughter in her "dinner" dress. Claudia writes, "Here are pictures of my daughter, Kirstin, age 9 at the time, in her "Titanic" dinner gown that I made for her. This gown took me three months to make. It truly was well worth the time. Kirstin and I are big "Titanic" fanatics and just adore the gowns from the movie. I plan to make many more for us in the future. Right now I have been making the gowns for the Franklin Mint size doll and selling them on eBay." Great job, Claudia!
WOW! Here is a recreation of the "dinner" dress by Jennifer LaConte. There are approximately 5600 sequins, 2500 large black facted beads and 8400 small black faceted beads, all hand-applied on this dress. It's a masterpiece!
Christine made this beautiful reproduction of Rose's dinner dress. I especially love the long train!
Tina Fisher made the dress above, which Kelly wore on a cruise with her mom!
Stephanie's dinner dress (above) was made for her by Tina Fisher, but Stephanie did all the beading herself! She wore the gown to a dinner in London, where she met Millvina Dean, one of the few remaining survivors of the Titanic disaster. Wow!
Doesn't Lexi look great in this neat version of the dinner dress that her mom made for her prom? The fabric is Indian sari material, which already has the design on the hem. Lovely!
Here is Sarah in her own version of the dinner dress, which she wore to the prom in 1999. Very nice!
Above are photographs of Sabine of "That Sinking Feeling" in her beautiful dinner dress. Read the excerpt below from her story of seeing the "Titanic" exhibit in Germany.
Jennie: Last weekend the Titanic movie exhibit opened in Dusseldorf, Germany. Me and Diana Clef (who has my sash ["swim"] dress in blue colors) decided to go there together on the first opening Sunday, and we had in mind to wear our dresses (she with her sash dress, me with the dinner dress) to have a look if they were really original...After entering the exhibit, the first things that were shown were how the underwater shots were taken, with some props.... Suddenly I stood in front of my dinner dress. I could not believe it - my dress really looks like the original one, except of some minor differences at the skirt side and that some other pearls were used for the beading - but it really IS the same! I could not stop making pictures....
A man came towards me and introduced himself in English as Mr. Schoenberger (that was at least the name that I understood), the American representative of 20th Century Fox for the exhibition. He told me that the staff called him when they saw me with the dress, and as he saw the dress on me his first look went to the original dress to see if it was still on display! There was the bow of Titanic where pictures could be taken. I persuaded my boyfriend, Thomas, to have a picture taken with me and we queued up for the picture. Suddenly Mr. Schoenberger appeared again and said that he would like to thank me for coming, so I would not have to pay for the pictures on the bow and I would not have to wait, I could go to the bow right away. I took my chance to make a dream come true. I asked "I have a question. May I take a picture in front of the 'grand staircase?' I have been dreaming of this for so long, but the man in front of the staircase told me that I was not allowed to take pictures of the staircase!" He smiled and said "No problem, will you want this right now?" I said "sure" and we went to the staircase. This man from the movie company made any dream come true I could ever have. He opened the chain that was used to keep visitors from touching the staircase, took it away, smiled and said "All right, Miss, go on the staircase, but please be careful, the stairs are very narrow." I could not believe it, it was like a dream. I had tears in my eyes when I let down the train of my dress and climbed on the staircase. When I turned around, there were at least 200 people standing there, taking pictures, clapping and shouting. It was like the last scene in "Titanic" when Rose and Jack meet on the stairs. Mr. Schoenberger allowed the people to take some pictures. He really seemed very much impressed and moved.
After this greatest moment in my life so far had ended, Mr. Schoenberger thanked me again for visiting the exhibit, and he made very many compliments on the dress. After that, we went to the bow and took the pictures there. Mr. Schoenberger took a copy for himself right away. Then some other people came to me. They introduced themselves as members of one of the biggest German TV stations and made me tell my story to them. They asked me if they could make a report about me and the dresses, and of course I said "YES!!!" They took my card and promised to call me within the next two weeks.To show you that this story is really true I have added a picture to this mail. It shows me and Thomas on the bow of Titanic. Jennie, I think I can never ever be happier in my whole life, and I am very happy that I wore the dress and so proud of the work that I am doing! If even the people from the movie company say that the dresses are nearly the same, so close to each other that they cannot see a difference, who else could know it better? I just wanted to let you know what happened to me on this exhibit, and thank you for everything, your help, inspiration and the mails that we have written to each other when I started to make the dresses. I do not know if I have ever told you but your website was the very first one that I saw about the "Titanic" costumes, and it inspired me to make my very own business here in Germany. Without you I would never had the idea! I am so happy and just wanted you to be a part of it.
Kind regards,
Sabine
See Katie's beautiful dinner dress, made by Tina Fisher and hand-beaded by Katie!
Another beautiful dinner dress by a talented young lady.
Isn't this simply dreamy? Kathleen's mother made this wonderful blue version of the dinner dress for Kathleen's flute recital. I love all the shimmery sequins and beads. Simply heavenly!
