I made this Victorian style wedding dress in the summer of 2011. It took me the whole summer to make it, not working on it every day full time. The rouching is all done by hand. It took me nearly a week to cut the dress out.
The dress features a fitted bodice, 3/4 length sleeves, a drape on each side, pleated bottom, and a train. The main part of the dress is heavy, ivory satin with polyester lace trim and organza lining.
The sleeves, neck, and train have little triangle trim. Those took a long time to make! The ones on the neck have boning so they will stand up.
The bottom of the dress including the train is trimmed with accordion pleats. I did those all by hand with the aid of a pleater. After I got the fabric pleated, I ironed it, then basted the pleats together. The organza slip underneath also has the pleats. They were harder to pleat because the fabric is thinner.
The rouching is just a lot of gathering. I did it all by hand. What made it difficult was that the thread broke, and I had to start over!
The dress is for sale on my Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/listing/109902270/victorian-wedding-dress-size-6-gorgeous?ref=shop_home_feat