Engagement Dress: Vogue 1314

Photo by Sebastien Bicard

For a break in the wedding dress series, I present my engagement dress! Actually, it was just a dress I made and realized it was the best garment I had to wearing during my engagement photos. Our wedding photographer is Sebastien Bicard, based in Northern California but travels a TON so ring him if you need some really great pictures. He was amazing to work with, Pete and I aren't very good at getting our picture taken, but Sebastien made everything feel really natural. I totally recommend him! But I have him for May 27th!

Photo by Sebastien Bicard

For this dress I used Vogue 1314, a Rebecca Taylor design. Its a good old-fashioned knit sheath, but with lots and lots of ruching down the sides. I actually wish there was at least 50% more fabric to ruche up, as it is, I think its a little spare. I used merino wool knit (another step in my apparent goal to have an entire wardrobe of merino) from Stone Mountain and Daughter in Berkeley. There is no lycra in this fabric so I'm waiting to see how it will wear. I already notice the hem getting a little stretched out at the end of the day so I'm a bit worried. The entire dress is also lined in the same fabric so its quite cozy. 

Photo by Sebastien Bicard

As the dress and the lining are only sewn together at the neckline and armscyes, I find sometimes the lining rides up and bunches which is pretty annoying. Also, for a knit dress, the lining has a bust dart which is pretty weird. Might want to change that next time. 

Photo by Sebastien Bicard

You can't see my dress in this picture, its just my favorite one.

The Wedding Dress Series: #3

Lots of progress since the last posts and I am getting really excited! I'm just going to dive in with the pictures.

Please excuse my turquoise bra, its my something blue.

This was my first time using a Marfy pattern and you know, its kind of fun driving without a map. The only instructions are printed on the pattern themselves and they are translated from Italian. "Half-back on the grain?" It actually means "cut on the fold". Those patterns are super nice though, they go together seamlessly. Pun not intended, but welcomed. For the skirt, I kept the center-front length of V1486, but extended the side seams. For the back, I matched the side seam length and significantly extended the center-back. I want drama. For the ruffle, I eyeballed the length and gathered and gathered and gathered and gathered.

Oh this dress is so flat, I was really questioning my decisions.

So there's a lot of things wrong with V1, not least of all that it look like something out of Little House on the Prairie. Everything seems to depend on the skirt portion which in V1 is all wrong. Compared to the inspiration dress, the skirt needs to be quite a bit shorter and be more circle than A-line.

Oh that's so much better, I mean, look how happy I am.

Oh, that so much better. Pretty much that only thing that changes here is I redrafted the skirt. I recut the bodice because now I know where the waist is on the pattern is and wanted to test it out. I'm still trying to figure out the proportions, I know the whole dress could still be a little shorter in the front, but I don't know if I want to take length out from the ruffle, the skirt, or both. I was trying something out with the neckline, thinking maybe I'll go with a halter, but I've realized that with the size of my chest, a sweetheart neckline is really the most flattering. Doesn't hurt that my fiance has been requesting a strapless dress since we got engaged.

I just ripped the ruffle off the first dress and reused it, but you get the idea.

Now I'm going to focus on the interior corset, because there's really no reason to fit unless I'm fitting to how my body will be held underneath the dress itself.