Tuesday, August 26, 2014

A Long Long Time Ago...

Anne's 52 Pick-me-up prompt this week, "Rococo" seemed like a good opportunity for me to show off one of my favorite sewing projects; my wedding dress. It's not quite as "frothy" as truly rococo gowns but close enough. Plus there's a good story to tell.


Originally my dress was going to be white brocade with a beautiful burgundy and gold embroidered ribbon as trim around the neck. I knew I didn't want white next to my face but thought I needed to stay within the convention of white for weddings. The ribbon would give me the color I wanted and needed against my skin.  

So I bought the fabric and commissioned a seamstress to make the dress. This is where things started going wrong.  At the first fitting I discovered that she had forgotten to put on a train and there wasn't enough fabric to re-cut the dress.  Grumble!  But life goes on and it wasn't really the end of the world, right? But seriously, what other occasion will I every have to wear a train?  Then I took delivery of the dress and got it home and really looked at it. Stark white (why did I talk myself into that?), no train, and the neckline didn't fit the way I wanted it to.  And then I discovered the the smudge. Seriously? Yup, the seamstress had managed to put a stain on the front of the dress.  

Frustrated and slightly heartbroken I discussed the situation with my mom and Soon-to-be-Hubby and the decision was made that I really should go ahead and make the dress I really wanted. So with just 6 weeks left and limited funds, I was back at the fabric store.  I was able to afford 5 yards of the tapestry plus the taffeta for the underskirt. Oh, and did I mention that I was still in college and finals were coming up?  It is probably the most technically complicated thing I've ever made but I'm awfully proud of the end result. I mean look at how perfectly I lined up the stripes - chevrons for the win! So what if I was hemming it at my maid-of-honor's house the night before the wedding? It's a dress that I designed and made myself and it's exactly what I wanted.

Here's the entire wedding party.  Geepers, we were young! 


Thanks Anne, for the excuse to walk down memory lane!  

3 comments:

  1. Exquisite! You should rightfully still be chuffed with yourself! Lovely job and, yes, you do all look so young, but also so happy and so in love.
    Zxx

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  2. What a creation and in six weeks, too! x

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  3. Wow, what an amazing dress, I'm so pleased you were able to wear exactly what you wanted, even if it took a lot of work. I am outraged that the seamstress didn't make you a train and got a mark on your dress, that's really bad! This dress is way better than plain white though, so it worked out in the end. xxx

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