Good things

It really is the little things that define the joy that is life.

Believe it or not, wedding stuff has been progressing (my lack of internet makes for lean blogging). At this point we are receiving responses back

and every single person has included a personal note written next to their check mark.

Some are simple, "so happy!", "can't wait", others are longer sentiments, but I eat up every single one. It brings a dang tear to me eye.

So in love.

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The Dress 003: Labor

I'm a sucker for nostalgia. I can honestly say that I'm tearing up right now at the thought of wearing my mother's wedding gown for my big day. I'm also tickled that she said I can do anything I want to it.

My scanner is acting bloopy, otherwise I'd show you the sketch I have for Pettibonifying this dress, but here's a rough outline:

1. Detach tank straps and reshape bodice neckline to a wide scoop.

2. Remove alencon lace over bra area and cover with gathered silk.

3. Use alencon as flanges to shape bust line at outer seams and create cap sleeves.

4. Reshape skirt to a sheath.

5. Add alencon appliques to lower the waistline and obscure it.

I'm hoping to accomplish all that without ever removing the skirt from the bodice and keeping the zipper in tact. (insert incredulous "HA" here)

*****

What's in a name?

Monique Lhiullier. I can only imagine what popped into your head. There is a Monique Lhiuller silk ballgown at my favorite local thrift shop. On half price day, that puppy will be a whopping $95. It's covered in plastic, a floor sample castoff, pristine. All silk. And it fits me. I'm so tempted.

Do I love the dress? Not really. But it's a Monique.

I'm trying so hard not to be one of those girls.

I think I'm in Love

... with Claire Pettibone.
True story: They tell a newly engaged bride to tear out magazine pages. Keep a file of everything you like. I've been doing this with dresses for a while. Unbeknownst to me, over half of the dresses I kept filed in my Big Bridal Folder are from one designer: Claire Pettibone.

I always freak out when I sketch up a dress idea and then mysteriously find it in a designer's collection. Like this:




















Love love love these looks:





















I admit that I would secretly love to help support a family in China, rather than make the dress myself. Is that "Bad Sewist" ?




PS Blogger you are killing me with this spacing between paragraphs. ARG.

The Dress: 002 (aka: Why I still love Pattern Review)

I've been crushing on this pattern for a looooong time:

The Vogue 2880 Bellville Sassoon misses dress. It has that Spanish-princessy thang that appeals to my undercover Rican-ness. Its sassy, yet sweet. And it looks flamin' good on that pattern envelope. I bought the pattern over a year ago and stashed it, waiting for an event that would give me enough lead-time to get it done.

Fast-forward to wedding obsession. I've been digging through the stash, trying to frankenpattern a dream dress. And there is 2880. Hmmmm. Maybe with the right fabric this could be a great wedding dress...

Enter Pattern Review. I checked out the reviews other people have posted on this dress. The word is that 2880 is tedious: a billion pattern pieces, time consuming, notions out the wazoo, tricky fabric. Ok, Ok. I can deal with all that. But it was the pictures.

Let me begin by saying this is in no way a reflection on those PR members who have clearly accomplished a great thing by creating this dress. While the dresses I saw in the review photos were beautiful and obviously well crafted, the fact is that the pattern envelope lies. The real-life dress on real-life bodies is, imho, waaaaay different than the sassy red number worn by the Angelina-esque model Vogue used on the pattern envelope. Sigh.

On the flipside, could you imagine if we didn't have PR? Thanks again, Deepika.

The Dress: 001

Bias cut silk (crepe? charmeuse?) with illusion back (lace? french tulle?). Still theorizing bodice front. Butterflied sleeves.
It's reminiscent of my old ladybird design.

I knew it.

I just knew I would end up making this dress. For months now I've tried to kid myself into thinking I'd found the perfect off the rack dress. A friend at work assured me that in the Ukraine it is bad luck to make your own dress. I was just waiting for it to go on sale. It would be so nice to put my energy into everything else that planning a party for 200 people would require.

But there was always that nag of doubt. I knew what I wanted, and the only way I'd get it was to go handmade. Everything else in the wedding is going to be homemade chic, so why not just make the dress I want?

The Big Picture

The inspirations for this wedding are going to lend to some pretty awesome fashion moments, and I think it will help my sanity to record all this on blog. For instance:

I ask Darling what he envisions his attire for the wedding to be. He brings me this picture:

The one to the left, he says.


I smile.


I Google.


I counter with this picture:

(btw: sorry these photos are not credited, I googled them again and couldn't find the sites)

He smiles.

Ok.

This should be fun.


The opinions on my dress? We've found a few inspirations:

celebritybrideguide.com

Offbeatbride.com

fashionology.com

I am trying to imagine what kind of frankenpattern I can come up with. Any opinions and pattern suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


The girls' dresses will be silk painted at the bottom, all in white silk, each dress different for each girl.

Let the games begin.

Yup, It's gonna be one of THOSE blogs.

Elizabeth and Cornelius

September 7, 2012

Giving Thanks...

...for spanx.

Introducing McCall's M6433, the 2011 Thanksgiving Dress.

It was nice to keep the tradition alive. I even got the dress done in early November, despite getting lazy with the blogging.

The sweater knit was an idea I got from the pattern cover, but it had a weird fit in the middle, kinda matronly. I remedied it with a cute little belt. The clasp was from the button section at JoAnn. I found it impossible to find a suitable belt buckle.

I got a billion compliments on the shoulder detailing.

Those little pleats really spice things up.