Sep
13
Wedding day photography by friends of the bride and groom
Lila Rose is now a married lady!!!
Lila Rose’s wedding day was perfect! It was held in Ohio on the playground of her elementary school. The wedding was a complete DIY affair. I was the only wedding professional they hired for any aspect of the wedding. Each of the guests were given a specific task, having all of the people who loved them literally be a part of the wedding. Down to the tiniest details, some guests were in charge of decorations or chairs, others the food or the cakes (they had 13 cakes of all different flavors!), and there were 6 guests in charge of taking the photographs. They complied all of the photos online for everyone to enjoy and share. The photos I’m sharing here are just a few of my favorites!
Read More»Sep
03
Kent Corley Photography
Isn’t she gorgeous!!!!?
Once Lila Rose put on her finished wedding ensemble for the first time, it was pure magic. She was so comfortable, totally in her element, and was absolutely in love with the dress.
And what an amazing team we had to pull off this photo shoot! Kent Corley was the photographer at his studio in Hillsborough. Amy-Jae Crawford from Syd’s Hair Shop in Chapel Hill did Lila Rose’s fabulous beehive hairdo and gorgeous makeup. The dress (and veil), of course, are one-of-a-kind creations by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture. And Lila Rose was so gorgeous and had so much fun, that she was a natural model. We all had an absolute blast and got some incredible shots!
It was hard to choose which photos to share! Here are just a few of my very favorites:
Read More»Aug
23
Lila Rose flew into town a few weeks ago for her final fittings and subsequent photo shoot!
I picked her up from the airport Friday morning. We had a FANTASTIC fitting. Then, I had until Sunday morning to do all of the fitting corrections, lining, finishing, and set up for the photoshoot. It was an exciting and busy weekend!
I usually don’t post photos of THE bride in THE dress before the wedding (which is this weekend!), and even though Lila Rose doesn’t mind, the photo above is all you are going to get as a teaser. It is from (what I call) our Fabric Fitting, which is the first time that the bride tries on her actual dress. Up until this point it has been mockup dresses!
Lila Rose was SO pleased. She said “This is the most beautiful dress I have ever seen!“. So even if this unusual dress is not your taste, know that the bride was overwhelmed by how perfect it was for her, in fit and in style.
In this post, I just want to quickly run through all of the last minute work that goes into a couture wedding dress like this one.
Read More»Aug
15
Many brides these days are opting for two looks for their wedding day: a ceremony look and a different reception look. Some brides opt for two completely different dresses, but I always find it fun to have a transitional garment in which something is added or removed to create a completely different look. I did this for Leah’s fun wedding ensemble, as well as my own!
Lila Rose’s neon wedding ensemble also has different ceremony and reception looks! For the ceremony, she will wear a long dramatic train. After the ceremony, the train is removed to reveal a reception look with a fun bustle.
Read More»Aug
08
If you are just joining, you are probably wondering what in the world I am making!
Lila Rose is a non-traditional bride who commissioned a hot pink eighties-inspired over-the-top wedding dress. One thing she wanted in her dress was a bustle. It took me a while to figure out how to design a bustle for a dress like this (usually you think of bustles in much earlier time periods in fashion history)!
But after some careful thinking, I designed what we’ve come to call Lila Rose’s “space bustle”.
You can see the sketch of the bustle here. And the design and patternmaking process for the bustle here. This is the second of two posts on the construction of the bustle. Part one can be found here.
Above you can see the concentric egg shapes all covered, wired, and lined. Each shape will be folded into a complicated structure that will eventually form the bustle on the back of her reception look.
Read More»Aug
02
After the collar was constructed, I was able to add the invisible zipper, begin to close up the dress, and start on the unique bustle for Lila Rose’s unusual eighties neon wedding dress.
The side seams, sleeves and hems are simply hand basted, so that they are adjustable during our next fitting. We were so close to perfect in our final muslin fitting, these should be enough points of adjustment allowing for the difference in fabrics as well as any slight body fluctuations.
I also left the orange panels free below the waist for our fitting. We will be using them as “belt loops” for the detachable train, so I wanted to make sure the belt sat perfectly in place on her body, before deciding exactly where the openings will go.
The photo above shows the dress really starting to look like a dress! All that is missing is the bustle and the train!
Read More»Jul
25
As you may recall from the mockup and sketches, Lila Rose’s dress will have a pleated stand-up collar.
Our original inspiration photo had a very deep V neck with the collar folding in a bit, but for Lila Rose’s eighties-inspired wedding dress, we needed the collar to take on pretty much a 90º angle from the body. Throughout our process, I had been brainstorming ideas to achieve this shape. I did not want her collar to collapse into her beautiful neckline!
I remembered reading a post from Gertie’s New Blog for Better Sewing about “wiggle bones” (also known as “zig zag wires”). I remembered using these before, back when I worked in professional theatre. These bones, which seemed to be extinct, were mainly used in Edwardian times. A corset company in Canada has begun to reproduce these in rust-resistant steel.
Though I’ve never heard of anyone using wiggle bones to keep a stand up collar like ours “standing up” at a right angle, it seemed like I could make it work perfectly. So I ordered a couple dozen as an experiment, and I was finally ready to try it out.
Read More»Jul
19
100+ hours into the process, I am finally taking Lila Rose’s actual wedding dress to the sewing machine! Out of the 170 hours projected for this project, I probably spend no more than 10 of them at the sewing machine. The majority of the time is spent designing, patterning, mockups, fittings, shopping, pressing, cutting and lots of handwork.
When I use the machine, I like to have a system. I pin and sew all the darts first. Then all of the seams that will cross other seams, then the seams that they cross…. until finally it starts looking like a dress! Seam allowances are dealt with by trimming and hand stitching to the underlining, where needed. Yet another great reason to use underlining!
Read More»Jul
10
Underlining! If there is one step that takes a garment from homemade to couture, it is underlining. If you sew and don’t know about underlining, once you try it you’ll see that it makes all the difference in the world in your quality.
Underlining is often also known as flat lining, interlining, or innerlining. Not to be confused with interfacing (which provides stability to specific parts of the garment), underlining is a layer of fabric that is attached to the entire back side of each piece of the fashion fabric. It is hidden inside the garment, between the fashion fabric and the lining.
The advantages to underlining a garment are numerous. So much so that I have been stuck trying to write this blog post. It seems more like something I should teach a class on!
Here are a few of the highlights of adding an underlining to your garment:
Read More»Jun
28
The fabrics arrived! They were perfect for Lila Rose’s colorful wedding dress. In case you forgot what the color sketches for this very unique dress look like, you can see them here.
The orange and the lime fabrics are a cotton/silk blend blend with a beautiful shine. The catalog said this 55% Cotton/45% Silk fabric “has the sheen and look of silk with the added benefits of cotton. A superior blend together, this fabric is truly gorgeous.” I agree.
The bright hot pink is a cotton sateen that has a gorgeous matte quality and the sateen weave gives it a look of luxury. It’s the most amazing shade of hot pink! It truly has the 1980s neon vibe that Lila Rose loves.
Read More»
