Saturday, April 24, 2010

Christie's Wedding Dress - July 2009

My friend, Christie, asked me to help her sew her wedding dress. She had already bought a white petticoat and a cute black and white dress. She sketched a cool design for it, and she just needed me to do a little sewing to bring it all together.

I sewed some black lace inserts into the side seams of the black skirt, and I made a black and white skirt with cool spikes.

I also made her a white corset to wear underneath the dress.

It turned out great, and she looked so beautiful on her wedding day!

Scott's Halloween Costume - Oct 2008

My brother, Scott, came to me with an incredible idea for a costume. He wanted to be a dark wizard.
He's very tall, at 6'8", and he wanted to be even taller. So, he bought some painter's stilts that would add 15" to his height, making him 8'1".

My task was to make him a robe and a tunic, and lengthen both so that they would fit him at his new, improved height.
The robe was very easy to make, and it turned out great. He was pretty scary at that height!

Bridesmaids - July 19, 2008

My mom did most of the work on the bridesmaid's dresses. I helped out with sewing some of the muslins for fittings, and we both worked as a team at the end to get everything done. Without her, it wouldn't have been possible. Thanks, Mom!

We managed to find the most gorgeous orange/pink irridescent duipioni silk, and we even found organza in the same colour! It was the colour of my dreams! It was so gorgeous, that I was a little disappointed that I would have to wear such a mundane colour as white! I wanted to be a bridesmaid!

The 2 dresses for the older girls took a few fittings to get right, but in the end, they turned out wonderful.
Mackenzie's dress was the easiest. And it was so cute! It was Mom's idea to make her muslin into something useful, so we made her a halloween dress. Mom sewed the dress, and I added the pocket and patches.


Everyone who's seen the pictures loved the colour. Not too many people have an orange wedding party, and I still haven't seen anyone use a colour like this!

Stagette Outfit - June 2008

When my friends started planning my stagette, I insisted that I be allowed to make my own outfit.
I needed to make another corset fitting for my wedding dress, so I decided to use some funky fabric and kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

I found a cute pattern for a short denim skirt with ruffles on the back.

I also had a headband with floppies on it, and attached some orange and pink tulle and had an awesome stagette veil.
My friends elaborated by making me a sash, and I also wore a hawaiian lei. Cutest outfit ever! Everyone else wore something pink or orange, and there were decorations to match. Fun!

Friday, April 2, 2010

My Wedding Dress - July 19, 2008


Ever since I caught the sewing bug when I was younger, I've always dreamed of designing and making my own wedding dress. About a year before my wedding, my mom and I were looking through a bridal magazine (I think it was the only one I ever bought), and we found this picture of a cool angle design on a corset. It was the coolest thing I ever saw, and to this day, I haven't seen a wedding dress design that I liked more than this one.

I made my own petticoat, and it took a few tries before I got the tiers to be in the right place, and the right amount of fullness. This is my final petticoat. It was huge! I felt like a princess as soon as I put it on, and I guess that's every bride's dream, right?


I decided to make a corset and a skirt, and I loved the asymmetry of the angle on the top of the corset. I took that and ran with it. This is a sketch of the lines I designed for my skirt. If you'll notice on my rust/orange test skirt, the lines get wider as they get closer to the bottom. The corset was very similar, only the lines were very small.


After several muslins of each component of the dress (corset, petticoat, and overskirt), I ended up with this! The dress is made of dupioni silk with organza overlay. One of my favorite parts was the side seam pockets I decided to put in! They turned out to be very handy on my wedding day!

I couldn't believe how well it all turned out!