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. 

The Wedding Dress Series #2

So with the style settled on and failing trying to keep from looking at more styles on Pinterest, its time to start the real work. For the foundation I am going with Marfy 2630, blatantly copying Poppykettle's AMAZING series on her wedding dress. I ordered the pattern and there was only one size left(!), so I went with it knowing it would probably have to redraft a bit anyway for the bust. I'll be following what Poppykettle's fabric choice as well.

Marfy 2630

For the bodice, I'm starting with another Marfy, this time 2616 which has some interesting folded bust darts that I think will complement the ruffles nicely. I'm still waffling between keeping the strapless look or making it into a halter. According to some advice from the amazing women of The Fabric Store in LA, I'll be attaching the corset to the dress itself. 

Marfy 2616

For the skirt portion, I'll be extremely modifying Vogue 1486. The inspiration skirt is actually two layers where the outer layer has the ruffle and the inner layer is a high-low circle skirt. And I'm keeping those pockets, oh yeah.

Vogue 1486

The fabric is all based on the amazing advice of Douglas from Britex Fabrics. According to Jason Wu's website, the dress is making of silk gazar. I went to Britex on a hunt for gazar and Douglas finally convinced me to turn away from gazar and turn to satin-faced silk organza. You were right all along Douglas, you are awesome. I plan to underline the bodice with flanelette and I'm still not sure what I'm going to line the bodice with, recommendations welcomed! I won't be lining the skirt, two layers should be fine. 

The Wedding Dress Series: #1

I am getting married May 27 of next year! We have the band, the food, the photographer, the photobooth, the save-the-dates are out, and everyone is offering their help wherever they can. Of course that all pales in comparison to the dress. Now if you know me personally or are coming to the wedding, you have just signed an NDA, please don't share.

Photo from Vogue Pinterest 

I've looked at a lot of dresses. If you sew, you can imagine how many dresses I've looked at. I tried a bunch of dresses on and definitely decided that I wanted something big and modern, no rhinestone embelishments and such. I prefer a modern, clean style with nothing that implies lingerie. There have been short flirtations with other dresses, but those crushes passed and I've always come back to this dress from Jason Wu's Spring 2012 line. Those ruffles just get to me. I few months back I decided to stop looking at all the pictures and acknowledge that this was my dress, I just have to make it reality.