Here's A Dress I Never Blogged About

I made my own wedding dress during my pretty short three-and-half month engagement.  I was hoping to blog about the process, but I was trying to throw together a wedding and make my dress at the same time.  Because my ability to put pressure on myself knows no bounds, I decided to make a dress for my bridal shower as well.   I never had time to blog about that dress either, but here it is:

In the top photo, I'm wearing a sweater because it was late January 2012, but in the bottom photo, you can see it is a sleeveless dress, made of shantung silk.  As you can imagine, I didn't have a lot of time to make this dress, so I planned a simple dress from tried-and-true patterns and techniques.  The bodice is the v-neck bodice from Simplicity 9559, now out of print:

I have a soft spot for this pattern because it is the very first dress pattern I ever made, back in 2002.  The bodice is made from the very small amount of white silk I had left after finishing my wedding dress; I liked the fact that I could incorporate a part of my wedding dress into this one.  The skirt is self-drafted half circle skirt in a dusty pink shantung I got on sale for $ 10/yard at Fabric Mart up in Massachusetts back in 2003 or 2004, before it went out of business.  Which is complete proof that not only should you have a stash, but you should have completely "useless" fabrics in it because you just never know.  : )

Influenced heavily by Mary Adams', The Party Dress, I added a liberal amount of ruffles.  I think I even bought a ruffler foot for my Bernina for this exact purpose.  (Which was the most expensive part of making this dress.)  Mary Adams makes her ruffles with bias strips, not bothering to hem them, so I gave it go and it was a lot of fun.  I made the white ruffles around the neckline and waist with Kaufman's silk/cotton blend fabric that I had auditioned for my wedding dress but ultimately decided not to use.  For the skirt, I used the rose shantung; my original plan envisioned at least two or three rows of ruffles but I ran out of fabric and had to make do with only one.  

I hemmed the dress with a bias strip folded in half a la Kay Whitt of Sew Serendipity, a technique I have used on a lot of my formal dresses - it's easy and creates a smooth, pucker-free hem.

This was an over-the-top frilly, girly dress. And just to gild the lily, I wore it with a full crinoline underneath!  But if you can't wear a ruffled silk dress at your bridal shower, where can you wear it???  I ended up wearing it for the rehearsal dinner as well.  Like my wedding dress, I felt comfortable, I felt the dress was "me", and I felt "cute".  Which is the trifecta of dress making!

Looking at these photos reminds me of what a great shower I had - the classic southern women's bridal shower, complete with pimento cheese sandwiches, deviled eggs, and petite fours.  So many of my wonderful friends made it a memorable day and I will be forever grateful . . .

A New Laura Ashley!

I was really taken with McCalls 5972 - a Laura Ashley sheath dress with a retro collar:

I  made view "B", with a plaid that looks like a wool, but is really a synthetic blend I found at Hancock's.  It was perfect for this pattern:  soft drape for the collar, but enough body for the dress.  I don't know what possessed me to choose a plaid for my first rendition of this dress - all that extra matching at the center of the dress, and the skirt sides took more way more time, but I just liked the look of this plaid.  The collar rolled perfectly, and this synthetic was more of a pleasure to work with than I had anticipated.  I made a size 12 with no alterations, except for the side seams which I varied based on the finished pattern measurements.  I sewed the side seams with a 5/8 inch seam allowance above the bust darts, and then narrowed the side seams to 1/2 inch to the waist.  I made the skirt with 1/2 inch side seams and got a very good fit.

(This fabric really is wrinkle resistant - I had been sitting all day at work when this photo was taken.)  My only other change was that I used silk shantung bias strips to finish the armholes, rather than single fold bias tape the pattern called for.  There is a side seam zipper and a back vent.  The bodice is lined, and I used some light pink cotton batiste I had leftover in the stash.

All and all, this turned out to be a very comfortable and professional dress and I recommend the pattern.

Parting Shots: My wedding present from VickiW!

Vicki started piecing this pink-and-brown churn dash quilt years ago and I staked my claim to it early on.  She finished it as my wedding present last week!  Check out the awesome quilting on the back:

Vicki quilted feathers in the blocks and cross-hatching in between!   And here is the all-important label:

This quilt means so much to me.  I love the colors. I love the quilting.  And it is big!  The Carpenter said it was "too good to use" but we have been sleeping under it every night!  Thank you, Vicki!