Jessica's Wedding Dress · Something Old, Something New...

As some of you may remember, I was working on a friend's wedding gown in May this year.  Well, the dress was completed, the wedding was beautiful, and I now have pictures to share!! :-)

In "real life", my job is doing seamstress work. (I know- aren't you shocked?! ;-P) I have quite a bit of experience with formals and weddings, so when my friend Jessica got engaged I was thrilled that she asked me to work on her gown!  Jessica has a great sense of style and tends to like classic looks, so I knew she'd pick out something I would end up liking too!  And she's so petite that everything just looks adorable on her. ;-)

After talking about options, she made a Pinterest board with some ideas she liked.  To achieve that look, we ended up deciding to add a lace and silk bodice to a purchased strapless dress.  Jessica liked the idea of using lace from her mother's wedding gown, but while she was getting it out of storage she found an exquisite heavily-beaded lace bodice from her great-grandmother!  She brought it along when we went to shopping for her "base dress" and it was the clear winner!

Here's the lace bodice in its original state- so much potential, but in need of lots of love!  It also had a pale pink sash that must have been a later addition- attached with stick-on velcro.  Oh, the horror!!  As you can see, the bodice wasn't in a wearable state, due to the severe yellowing on all the seams. (As a side note- every cut edge on the lace had that yellowing, but nowhere else.  Does anyone know what would cause that?  I couldn't figure it out.)  Thankfully all of the seams needed to be taken in anyway and the yellowed portions could just be trimmed off.

The neck and sleeve edges were bound in plain old ecru bias tape.  It wasn't finished off nicely at the back, was a "blah" color, and an unflattering neckline.  So off it came!

And on went the narrow handmade silk binding.

Hand-stitched in place absolutely invisibly. :-)  This dress truly was a labor of love- the binding is proof. ;-)

After the bodice was altered to fit Jessica, I stitched it to the base dress.  I draped a pleated silk midriff band on the dress and hand-stitched it all in place.  The overbodice is unattached to the base dress at the back to allow for the closure.

The base dress closes with a zipper; then the overbodice closes with covered buttons on the lace and snaps on the silk.

I was rather intimidated by the thought of bustling a tulle gown- to the point of thinking it was impossible.  After scouring the internet for awhile, I came up with my game plan.  I under-bustled the lower layer with color-coordinated ribbons and over-bustled the tulle using buttons and clear hair elastics (of all things!).

I was so pleased with how the bustling buttons ended up hiding under the silk.  It felt rather ingenious, if I do say so myself. ;-)  I was a bit concerned that the elastics might end up being visible with the train down, but even to the trained eye they were unnoticeable. :-)

And now here are some pretty photos from the photographers!

  

This skirt was so amazingly twirly!!  But I guess that's what a 1 1/2 circle skirt will do for you. ;-)

With the skirt bustled up!

I would absolutely steal this dress for my wedding.  Except that I'm not 5'2"....

There aren't many projects (even of my own) that I love in every single phase of the process- design, planning, construction, and completion.  This dress was an exception to that though- I can't decide if it was more fun to make or to look at photographs of! :-)

It was such a joy to be able to give this family heirloom a new life and purpose and I love how unique and personalized Jessica's dress now is! :-)

· Wedding photos by Kathryn ·

· Wool Regency Tailcoat ·

My sewing business keeps me happily busy but my projects usually fall under the alterations or modern custom work category, so when I was asked to make a Regency tailcoat, it was a most welcome change from my normal! :-)  

The original plan was to use the Country Wives tailcoat pattern to make this coat, but after trying on the mock-up it was evident that the pattern was, unfortunately, totally unusable.  The pattern's armholes and neck are alarmingly large- even taking into account a more modern fit, they are much too large for asthetics or movement. 

Thankfully, my friend Gabe was able to make a custom tailcoat draft from Peter's measurements, so I was saved the headache of trying to fumble my own way through a solution. :-)  He makes custom drafted patterns based off of your personal measurements and specializes in 17th- 19th century mens clothing.  Check out his etsy shop for custom garments and patterns!  The new draft worked wonderfully, and looks great! :-)

Unfortunately, I currently only have pictures of it on a hanger.  It (obviously!) looks so much better when it's on, but these will have to suffice for now. ;-)

The tailcoat is machine-sewn, but all finishing details are done by hand.  I pad-stitched the collar and lapels; and it makes me want to get into tailoring more. ;-)

 The coat is made of a medium weight wool and lined in brown polished cotton.  This was my first time doing official hand-sewn buttonholes, and the thought of it was quite intimidating. :-)  I did lots and lots of reading, several practice ones, and then bit the bullet.  I'm very glad that there were only 3 visible buttonholes, and while they are passable, there is a reason I don't have a picture showcasing them... ;-)  I read somewhere that it takes 1,000 buttonholes before you get the hang of it, so I guess I just have 993 more to go. :-P  Great.  I'm a perfectionist and I love instant gratification just as much as the next person! ;-)

The M-notch collar is made of a very soft cotton velvet, as are the buttons and cuffs. 

· Pictures by Kathryn ·