Linen Wrap Dress

My best friend is getting married in less than two weeks and I wanted to make the perfect dress to wear to her wedding. I've also been so excited for fall fashion and the colors that come along with that. I'm most excited about reds!

I found this pattern on sale (for $1!) and fell in love! I've been dreaming of wrap dresses lately for nursing convenience.
However, when I finally got the perfect orange-red linen/rayon fabric and had time to cut out the pattern, I noticed I got the larger sizes. Dang it! There was no way I would be able to grade the pattern to my size.
Since the pattern is normally $20, I figured I was better off just making my own similar pattern than buying a smaller size. I was looking forward to using a store-bought pattern (mostly just to see if I have the skills to follow a pattern, because I'm not so sure...), but self drafting is my jam and I am alway down to create a pattern!

A simple sketch I did a few months back of a wrap dress

I got started right away on making the perfect wrap dress pattern inspired by the one I bought. It took me ALL DAY to make it! My poor baby was crawling around trying to eat the tissue paper as I was drawing and tracing and calculating.
After cutting out the pattern, pinning it to the fabric, and cutting out the fabric, I spent a couple hours assembling the pieces. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the assembly was. I think this particular pattern might have been my most well made one to date!

This particular wrap dress has a full skirt, bodice princess seams, and a beautiful tie around the waist.

 

I made sure all of the darts matched up at the waist.

At the neckline, I used bias tape to finish off the edge. It gave it such a nice, smooth finish that I wouldn't have gotten if I simply turned under the linen fabric and sewed it down.



To finish off the raw edges, I used a zig zag stitch on my sewing machine. None of my serger thread colors came anywhere close to matching the color, so this was the best option.



After making the dress and finishing off all edges other than the hem, I attached the tie and created a hole under the left arm for the tie to pass through.





Once I tried the dress on for the first time, it felt a little casual for a wedding. The linen fabric is very soft and has a cozy vibe to it (plus, it wrinkles easily), but once I dressed it up with heels and jewelry, it looked perfect for the wedding! I tested it out and wore it to church this weekend and I love the way it turned out!

Viviana's Wedding Dress Alterations

Viviana got married last weekend!

Her dress was so gorgeous! it was an ivory lace and tule dress with a tan lining. She wanted to add more lace to the neckline and hem the dress to be a shorter, even-length hem. 

The dress before any alterations, hem pinned to new length

The neckline detail with the tule extending up to the collar bone

Adding Lace was a fun, time consuming change. I was able to use one large piece for the majority of the add-on with individual flowers added along the existing lace and the neckline edge.

I pinned all of the lace pieces in place and spent some time perfecting it so that it looked even and beautiful. I used invisible thread to attach the lace. 

Lace pinned in place

Lace addition complete!

After the lace was completed, it sat untouched for a few days because I knew I would want to do the whole hem at once and not have to do it in 30 minute increments. 

One day while Peter slept, I cut the hem... TEN INCHES TOO SHORT! 

I don't know how I made such a huge mistake or where my mind was, but I caught it after I had made a two food long cut through both layers of the lining skirt. 

As soon as I realized what I had done, Peter woke up and I didn't get a chance to fix it that day. Spending a few days thinking about it and brainstorming how to fix it helped in the long run because I was not frantic and I knew exactly how I was going to patch it.

My sister-in-law came to watch Peter so I could spend half a day sewing. First thing I did was baste some extra fabric from the hem onto the hole so I could make sure it was still laying flat. 

The dreaded hole, temporarily based shut with extra fabric from hem as reinforcement

Next, I used some more extra fabric and I practiced a few different techniques and stitches to see what would hide the scar best. 

The did a machine stitch on the underneath layer, but hand stitched the top layer because it was the most hidden. It took quite a long time, but it turned out great and hardy noticeable. Once both layers were patched, I hemmed the skirt and closed up the skirt. All of the patch work is concealed between the two layers, giving it a pretty good finish.

The hem is even all the way around the dress and I top stitched to give the edge a nice crisp line. 

Lining hemmed! Ready to hem tule layers

Cutting the tule was very simple because there is no finish at the hem. I went back and forth between handing it up to laying it out on the floor to get the perfect, even length. 

The finished project:

Bet you can't even locate the patch!

Viviana looked amazing in her dress! It is such a gorgeous dress, and, despite the colossal mistake I made, everything else turned out perfect and the patch is almost impossible to spot, even to someone who knows exactly where it is. 

Dresses for Weddings

Wedding season approaches!

Here is a throwback to a few dresses I made myself for weddings over the years.

My good friend Madeleine got married in 2011. Her official bridesmaids were her five sisters, but she told a few friends to wear green so that we could still coordinate. I loved how the different shades of green looked together. 

This isn't a great shot of the dress I made, but I used a pattern from a Built by Wendy Dresses book I had. For years, the patterns from that book were all I used when sewing for myself. I modified the skirt to be a circle skirt rather than A-line and the bodice was pretty basic with a scoop neck and short sleeves. 

In 2012, our friend Rachel got married. Her bridesmaids were her four sisters and her best friend and they wore mint green. The four of us pictured coincidentally all showed up wearing shades of blue. It was unintentional, but it resulted in a cute picture with the bride! 

The dress I'm wearing here is a navy knit dress with puff sleeves. I made it in my pattern making class. 

Emily's Wedding Dress: Adding Sleeves

Emily got married last weekend! 

During the wedding dress shopping stage, they were sending me pictures of any dress that she liked and we would quickly brainstorm what could be done to make the dress modest. She sent a few pictures of different dresses, and then she found THE DRESS. It was the perfect length and the bodice fit her like a glove. The only work that needed to be done was adding sleeves. Granted, that is a huge job, but it can be done!

She fell in love with the beading detail and the overall silhouette. Adding sleeves wouldn't be too much trouble because the front is not too low cut. I was confident right away that I would be able to create sleeves that would match the dress almost seamlessly. I did a similar alteration on a prom dress last year. 

We had two fittings with a cotton mockup of the upper bodice. The first draft was way too big and the second one fit her almost perfectly. After making minor adjustments to the second mockup, I finally cut the pieces out of the white satin, using the cotton as the pattern and eventually the underlining.

The first change I made to the dress itself was to remove the beaded flap from the neck edge. Even though it was a gorgeous detail, we all agreed the dress would look better without it once the sleeves were added. Luckily, the beading extended underneath the flap so I didn't have to re-bead the bodice.
I wanted to reuse the beads from the flap so I spent a lot of time removing those.

Once the satin outer layer was attached to the lining and the finished sleeves were sewn on, I then pinned it in place on the dress.

Shoulder pieces pinned to the dress ready to be fitted and sewn

After she tried it on one more time, I had a few adjustments to make. Once those were made, I had her try it on one last time! This time I was confident with the fit so I finally attached the piece to the dress. After that, I began beading!
The beading was easy, but oh so time consuming! I continued a border around the neck edge to make it look continuous. I also continued some of the bodice beading over the seam onto the shoulder pieces. This made it look as though the dress came with the shoulders and sleeves (I REALLY didn't want it to be obvious that sleeves were added).

After I finished beading, I hand stitched the lining fabric closed, added a few hooks and eyes, and it was finished! With not a moment to spare! Thankfully, she was a very easy-going bride so she didn't seem to mind too bad that I got the dress to her only a few days before the wedding.

Days before the wedding. Its finally finished!

I am so happy with how it turned out. I am so proud of the beading especially! I was sure to text a few update pictures to the bride as I made progress. This close up of the beading was one picture that I sent to her. 

Some of the beading detail

Congrats, Emily! So happy I got to be a small part of your big day! Now that I am finished, I think I might reward myself with a new dress...

Wedding Dress: Final Draft

Jesse and I got engaged in June 2014. It came as a total surprise to me, so I was NOT prepared! Our engagement was three short months, so I got to work immediately on my dress.
I used my dress form throughout the whole process. It doesn't have my exact measurements, but it is pretty close. Even still, it made the whole process easier. I matched it to the height I would be with my wedding shoes on - a whopping 6'3" - so I could make the skirt the perfect length. 

The raw silk in ivory and the lace in white turned out beautiful. The slight color difference adds detail to the lace and makes it pop much more than if they were the same exact color.

I spent so many hours on this dress! I tried it on every day as I worked on it to make sure it fit me perfectly. 

The darts on the bodice were fitted to me perfectly. I was unhappy with how the first dress fit, so I made sure this one was just right. 

I hand stitched extra lace flowers onto the bodice. I wanted the whole thing covered.

One of my favorite details: the belt!

The perfect belt!! From BHLDN

I love looking back at our wedding pictures! 

From our pre wedding shoot a few days before the wedding. I was still doing some finishing touches on the dress on the drive to the beach for pictures! So stressful.. 

My biggest mistake was wearing brand new shoes. My feet were toast after two hours!

Wedding Pictures by Nickell Blair Photography

Whenever I visit my parents' house, I end up going to my old closet and looking at my wedding dress for a few seconds.
I'm so glad I didn't pass up the opportunity to make my wedding dress. I probably could have saved myself the trouble and bought a better-made, better-looking dress elsewhere, but I'm so glad I didn't. I've got this new sense of pride in what I did. I learned so much and I am a better seamstress now than I was before.
Plus, it's one more thing I have in common with my wonderful mother-in-law, Jennifer, who also made her own wedding dress!

Wedding Dress: First Draft

One of the most fulfilling classes I ever took was Bridal. I had the opportunity in the Spring of 2013 to sew a wedding dress! Each person in the class (about 12 students) either made a dress for themselves, a friend, or a client. I made mine with the intention of storing it in the back of my closet until my wedding. I began dating Jesse half way through that semester, and he probably thought it was a little strange that I was already making my wedding dress...

My inspiration:

The Inspiration! Source

I love this dress! The lace is gorgeous and the silhouette is to die for! I wanted to look as amazing in my dress as Eva Herzigova looks in this dress.

I came up with a sketch.

Looking at Eva's dress, i's' hard to tell where the seam lines and darts are, but I was able to come up with a pattern that closely matched. 

Instead of making the dress out of very expensive silk, I made a mock up dress out of old sheets I found at Deseret Industries!

The hideous sheets...

Some shoulder and sleeve design detail. 

I have a silk blouse with 3/4 length sleeves with beautiful pleated detail. I wanted to do the same thing on these sleeves. I also added a bit of fullness to the shoulder.



I lined it up so that the skirt seams and the bodice darts matched up at the waist.

I was eager to get started on the real deal! I used an ivory raw silk fabric (love the sheen) that I got in Los Angeles at the fabric district with my mom.
There were a few things I new I wanted in my wedding dress fabric: something with texture, something natural (no synthetic fabrics), and I didn't care for lace. 

The neck edge, sleeve edges, and hem all had a thin chiffon border (inspired by Eva's dress). I love the way it finished the edges!

After twelve weeks of work, it was finally done!

To be honest, I don't love this dress nearly as much as I love the recreation I did later that year. However, I was really proud of myself for making a wedding dress!

As soon as I finished, I already knew what I would change about it: I wanted a more subtle skirt shape, I wanted the bodice to fit my body better, and I wanted to add lace somehow. 

I even had the opportunity to model my dress in a fashion show at the end of the semester!

Ready to go on..

On the runway!

About a year later, I took the dress completely apart, removed most of the underlining layers, shortened the sleeves, refit the bodice, reshaped the skirt, added tons of lace and got married!