a friend of mine got married recently, I helped her out some with the dress.
she was making her own dress and I knew she had been struggling with getting everything done before the wedding,(there is just so much to do before a wedding, a lot that has nothing to do with the dress) but she had a back up dress and said she would be fine with wearing it if she couldn't finish the one she was making. but really it was not what she wanted.
she had come up with a design that really was very practical, a slim fitting under dress that could be worn under a removable skirt with a 12 foot train. practical because a train that long is really only good for the ceremony and pictures. it would have been a nightmare at the reception with everyone stepping all over it and a nightmare to bustle because that is lot of fabric!.
when we got there she was making good progress on the under dress. it was mostly done, but she was having trouble figuring out how to put the lacing in the back. Her cousin was coming over to help with that. they talked back and forth about how to do the lacing, and I kind of jumped in the conversation with a few ideas. then basically volunteered to put the lacing in, because I have done that before. it went together very nicely, I sewed silk cord to a strip of cotton, curving the cord back and forth where needed to make the loops, then installed the strip of lacing loops into the back of the dress.
meanwhile, while I was doing this, my friend, her cousin, her mother and my sister were cutting out the train. yes it took 4 people to even cut the train out! and it took up the entire living room!
the next morning I woke up early, added a waistband and hemmed the train.
the train wasn’t exact, exactly what she wanted but it was as close as we could get in such a short amount of time and it was pretty close.
and I just want to say she picked some of the most beautiful fabric to work with. the under dress was a beautiful silk, that was a dream to work with. it didn’t fray and it didn’t slide all over the place and was not full of static. it just did what it was supposed to do, sewing up beautifully. the over skirt train, was a polished cotton that was also a very nice quality. there is just something so satisfying about working with high quality fabric.
the wedding itself was absolutely gorgeous, she did a nice job planning exactly how she wanted the ceremony to go, that honored both her family traditions and her new husbands. the dress of course was quite a statement, and she looked just like a princess in all that white, with her bridesmaids walking in behind her guiding the train.
my sister was one of the bridesmaids and I made the lace top she wore over her gown. I need to make her wear it again so I can get some good photos of it and make a post about it.
I wanted to make myself a dress to wear to the wedding but I ended up buying one, because work was insane the two months before the wedding and I just couldn’t find the time. I did pick me out some fabric and a pattern though so that will be a project for another time.
the reception was also very nice with good food and fun dancing that went on well into the night. the bride was beautiful in her slim fitting white silk dress with a corset back.
we didn’t know if we could all get the dress done in time but in the end with a group effort, it all worked out beautifully.
photos by:lizzardtears. (me)
