I Can Get Married Now

We've come a long way. From our completed mock-up to pre-dress jitters to an unholy stain-induced meltdown, we've seen it all.

And I have a confession - we actually finished the dress a week ago. However, I wanted to wait until Mother's Day to try on the whole ensemble. Since Mom wasn't able to experience the whole mother-daughter dress-search bonding like you see on Say Yes to the Dress, I at least wanted her to be the first to lay eyes on our finished project.

It's no easy matter to photograph a white girl in a white dress, it seems. But not impossible, thanks to my patient father who sat through my incoherent diva-demands. So with no further rambling, here is our $300, 5 week-long project. Our labor of love: my dress.

The bridal portrait glamour shot!

A little back action. (There's actually a sheet tucked under the hem, keeping the dress away from the grass stains!)

Practicing with a bouquet made of roses (that we later gave to my grandmother for Mother's Day).

A cluster of fabric flowers, crawling up the shoulder. Interestingly, the strap can go on either side of the dress, and is also removeable!

A little angle to show off those pick-ups!

We didn't change too much from the first mock-up. Although (to my delight), Sak did take it in several inches! There is really no room for weight gain now, so I've got to stay active in the couple months remaining!

Under the skirt is a crinoline I bought for about $30, to give the skirt some fullness. I haven't added any fabric flowers to the back of the skirt yet - and I'm not sure if I will. I couldn't figure out where to place them so they looked like part of the dress. They might have to stay out. Maybe I'll use the extras to decorate my hard hat instead!


Later that day we went to visit my grandmother, and I tried the dress on once more.

Sak, standing by anxiously as Penga-Grandmother checks his work!

She gave us the thumbs up, much to our satisfaction!

Team sewing, for the win!

Oh - and am I happy about my dress? I think this goofy face says it all:

What am I doing? Scratching my bum? How awkward.

How'd it feel to finally put your perfect and fitted dress on? Did it give you tears of joy? Jumping jacks of exuberance? Shimmy-ing of sassiness? Karate kicks of pure adrenaline? Or an itchy bum*?

*Just kidding, I'm really just holding my train off the floor. No bustle in place yet.

By the Power Vested

A while back, Sak realized he didn't fit any suits at the store. Sadly, we have yet to resume the search, due to his bruised ego and our mutual discomfort around pushy sales people. It's led the family to jokingly say, "Why don't you just make his suit then?"

Hmm. Why don't we? I think I can handle at least part of it, at least. So like the talented Miss Poodle, we set out to make a vest.

I picked out Vogue Pattern 8048, and we decided option C would be the best.



I found some awesome tropical plant overlay fabric for the outside, and Sak chose some crepe-backed satin for the inside lining.

First I cut out all the pieces. Unfortunately, Sak is smaller than the smallest size on the pattern, so of course I had to adjust for that.

Then Sak ironed on the lightweight fusible interfacing for me. This gives the vest a crisp look.


Next, I went through the somewhat arduous task of putting on pockets. In theory it was not so hard, but the drawing direction was vague and I ended up sewing the welts on upside down the first time around. This is why technical writers are oh-so-very important!

Cutting open the pocket was the best part!

Next came the back-waist-cinch-tie thing. I'll need to find a nice clasp for it I think.

We made sure to press the seams down as we went, so the vest would lay flat!

Time to sew the liner and the front together!

Once it was sewn, we flipped the whole thing inside out, and pressed down the edges!

Finally, I sewed the shoulders together, and voila!

One vest for Sak. (His shirt in the picture is a more of a light grey, which makes the vest look a little odd. The wedding shirt will be white.)


Instead of buttons on the front, I'm thinking of buying some frogs instead.

(source)
Or do would that be too much?

Sak also brought up the idea of maybe doing the outer layer of my corset in the tropical overlay fabric instead of the lace, so that we would match. Would this be a good idea? I really love the lace, but I love the idea of matching as well! Maybe we'll make two corsets for my indecision!

Will you match your groom in any way?

The Past Unveiled

I never planned on being a veiled bride. Only a hair flower or two is what I thought, and I was content.

Until I was presented with this:

That's right - my very own vintage veil pattern from 1951. And not just any pattern, but the one used by my grandmother many years ago for her own wedding.


Who could say no to that? I sure can't. Especially since she told me she can't make it to the wedding (due to my bedridden grandfather). I want her to feel like part of this wedding as possible!

Just like that, it looks like I'll be sporting a veil on our wedding day. There are several different variations included in the pattern, so I don't have to make an exact replica. I don't know how much we'll deviate just yet, but as I doubt I can pull off the Anastasia-esque headgear on the Vogue sketch, I'm sure we'll be working in some modifications.

And my grandmother actually has her veil (and dress), so I'll be able to see a visual example as I go along. Unfortunately, her veil is a bit fragile and worn at this point - otherwise I wouldn't bother "re-inventing the wheel".

I think it looked quite nice on her, so I'm hoping it'll work out for me as well!

Have you had the chance to use anything from the weddings of previous generations? Maybe a dress, a tradition, or simply old pictures?

Because 7 Dresses is Just Not Enough

Engagement photo time is coming up soon, and it seems I have more outfits than necessary. Well, what's one more?

Noting the suggestion of needing a shorter, solid-print dress, I picked up this B. Darlin dress from Ross for $8.99:

messy house alert!

It's a taaaaddd tight on me, but hey..it was $8.99 and it has pockets! I couldn't refuse.

However, it is strapless. And I'm scared of the effect gravity may have on strapless dresses, so let's add a halter, please.

Taking a piece of white scrap fabric, I cut out two, 27" x 4" strips.


I sewed them in half length-wise, flipped them inside out, and stitched them onto the dress by hand.

That's all there is too it! Just tie the straps around your neck!

I even tried some red lipstick for effect!

Such a poser!

Do you think it helps the overall look any? It certainly helps my "please-don't-fall-down" fears, so mission accomplished!

And to go with my dresses, I also picked up these shiny silver sandals for $12.99 (also from Ross).

We'll add to that some hair flower pins borrowed from a recent bride/family member.

And a crocheted jacket for the windy-side of the island?

I think we have a winner! My first white dress ever!

Then Sak, curious as to my parading around in a dress all day, ended up wanting to play dress up too. Who knew that he just happened to have a white silk shirt lying in the back of his closet? Unfortunately, he ran away before I could snag a picture, but you'll see him soon enough!

We're ready for some pictures now! Let's go!

How many engagement outfits did you (or will you) have?

Bag "Bliss" - Step 2

Continuing on with the next installment of the big-bag-adventure (Step 1 is here), we have the sewing!

At about 100 inches of sewing per bag, this adds up to roughly 1,000 feet of "mileage" on my little sewing machine. Good thing we bought those giant spools of thread!

We start with our printed sheet of fabric, which is a 18" x 47" size. This is a tad larger than the average backpack, since it was meant to fit the reception chairs, so if you want to make your own for non-chair use, I suggest making it a couple inches shorter in length.

Next I sewed over the top edge and 3-4 inches down each side. I tried to make this fold as small as possible, since the only purpose it serves is to hide the raw edges.

Now, fold over the top about an inch, and crease the fabric. If your fabric isn't easily creased, use pins. Make sure the fold is as straight as possible. I used "Duck" fabric, which is an amazing canvas material that creases and sews very easily.

Sew the fold down, leaving plenty of space to shove the drawstrings through later. Repeat on the opposite end of the fabric.

Now when we fold our fabric in half, we should have two holes/tubes along the top edge to put our drawstrings in.
Depending on whether you want a straight bag or a round bag, this step could be skipped, but in our case we wanted to match the curvature of the chair, so we made a template to trace onto the folded fabric. (Note - this is all done with the reverse side of the fabric showing.)

We added our eyelets (which I'll cover in the last post of this series), and then sewed around the edges to seal our bag.

Finally, we cut off the unnecessary fabric (in this case, our corners).

Here we go!

And turning the whole thing inside out..

Sewing complete! Last step to come is the drawstring attachment!

Anyone else breaking out the sewing machine for their wedding?

Dress Mock-Up Stage 1

Yes, Sak and I are attempting to make my wedding dress. Yes, we know they possibility of it looking like a bad cosplay outfit is high. But I'll tell you why we're going to try it:

1. We're cheap. Wedding dresses are expensive, and I'm not paying exorbitant amounts for a dress I'll only wear for a few hours. We're using muslin for the trial run, and if all goes well, we'll invest in some cheap white muslin. Why didn't I get white muslin to begin with? Well, I didn't know they made it, otherwise I totally would have. But never fear, I have big plans for the trial dress. It can be used at renaissance fairs, maker faire, and of course, some kind of cosplay I'm sure.
   
2. I don't want to be shiny. Since I'm already going to be shiny from sweating in the hot Hawaii sun, I don't need any help from the dress.
   
3. We're DIY-fiends. When we see something cool looking, our first thought is always, "how can we make that?" We love a good puzzle.

So, before I reveal the pictures - here's the pattern we're using for the skirt. We are going to redesign the top, since I'm not 100% comfortable with a completely sleeveless look.

(source)

Like any pattern, we began by reading the directions. We cut out the pattern pieces, lined them up with the fabric, and used the guides to help us cut the correct pieces.
Finding a place to put the easily-ripped pattern paper was tough though. I don't think Sak hanging up our highly flammable pattern paper to our incandescent chandelier was such a good idea...
Half the skirt laid out.. Funny thing, this pattern. It had an error! One of the pattern pieces was several inches too wide, and several inches too short. Luckily, we could put our engineering degrees to the test, using the curvature of the correct parts of the skirt to figure out which piece had the error, and what it was supposed to look like. But, before I claim victory on this one, I should point out we bought the wrong sized (and recalled) pattern in the first place. I didn't bother to check the measurement sizes when I picked up the envelope. I simply saw the 6-8-10-12 on the package, and assumed it would fit me, since I'm in that range. Unfortunately, patterns are printed in something like 1920's measurements, so a 2009 size 8 is really like a 1920 size 18. But once again, we modified the pattern by adding extra paper, and it worked out just fine! And as a note to future pattern-users, please check online first to make sure there are no existing problems with your chosen design. It will save many headaches!

Tah-dah!

This is the outer-most layer of the dress, there are two other layers that haven't been tacked together yet. Then, once all three layers are in, we can do the pick-ups that give the skirt its "posh-flair", haha.

Anyone else use a pattern for their dress or other wedding day gear?