It's been quite a while since I stopped sewing long enough to blog about anything. But once this project was complete, I knew I needed to stop and document this project.
So my sweet friend called and gave me the wonderful news of her engagement. Then mentioned the wedding was in 8 weeks. And was there anyway she could wear her mother's dress? Hmm I'm game to try anything, but first, I needed to know what we were dealing with. So she called her sister who put the dress on and snapped some pictures to give me an idea. (Her mom is serving a mission out of the country, so the details are happening with her sisters help)
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| Sister of the bride to be wearing Mom's 40 year old dress. |
Once I knew what we had to work with, the next step was finding out what the bride to be liked style wise, so I called up my own daughter, and told her to do two things. 1) get her fitted for a corset style bra, and 2) find out what shape of skirt made the bride happy. Once the corset was fitted, I wanted the bride to purchase it and ship it to me immediately. This way I can put it on my mannequin along with her measurements and give me a close approximation of her body. Did I mention the bride to be is in Utah and I am in Texas? So off to David's bridal they went one Saturday morning.
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| After her trip to the bridal shop, this is what I drew after our phone conversation |
After trying on dresses, and knowing what her moms dress looked like, the bride to be decided on a natural waistline dress, with a chiffon overlay on the skirt, a satin ribbon at the waist, total lace appliqué bodice and flutter sleeves.
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| Let the restoration of the color begin. |
Once her sister brought me the dress, we began the process of trying to bring the color back. I swear there was a miracle happening in my bathtub. I soaked the dress overnight in this amazing solution. Rinsed in cold water and hung to dry. I am thrilled with the results. I discovered that most of the discoloration was the netting the lace was attached to, and the underdress. Not a problem as my bride to be has wider shoulders than her mother did at this age, so I needed to make an underdress in her size.
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| The lace brightened up amazingly well! |
The first thing that had to happen was to remove all the delicious lace off the old dress. It was very ornate and most of the beading had to be reinforced. I spent about 4 weeks cutting the lace off and hand sewing it onto the new dress. Did you know that 40 year old chiffon looks just like modern chiffon? The color came back perfectly!
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| Finally got the flutter sleeves to work... |
So I needed to learn a new skill. The bride wanted a flowy flutter sleeve, but I knew we didn't want to add any bulk to the top and underarm sleeve. Pinterest to the rescue! In just a few minutes I was able to draft the style of sleeve she requested. I love learning new techniques with the help of kind people who post directions! I opted to make the sleeve out of two layers of chiffon, as she wanted a spring look, but without the sheer fabric that can be see through.
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| Its coming together... |
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| One very happy bride |
Now here's the tricky part of sewing for other people. I know what I like, and I know what I can do, but sometimes people show up to the final fitting and demand design changes that are not part of the original plan. Lucky for me this bride was no drama queen at all. She was moved to tears at how beautiful her moms dress turned out. Having a happy client makes me very happy.
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| Side by side comparison |
So our brides to be is beyond excited, I am pleased with how it turned out. I just hope her mother likes what I did with her dress. Her wedding dress ended up using all the lace and the chiffon that was on her moms dress. The underdress was made using a satin blend and some netting to reattach the lace pieces. The only adjustments I had to do was to pull it in 1/2 an inch on each side right above the waist. No problem!
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