Dressmaking project on the go: fit and flare lace gown

It’s been a while since I had sewn anything for myself. After sewing 9 projects for our DIY wedding (you can see all the projects we did ourselves for our 2015 wedding here) and after that, it seemed my friends were all due to have their babies at the same time last year. I was so excited about my friends expecting babies that I was consumed with making handmade toys and clothes for them that sewing for myself was put to one side.

Since becoming vegan, I don’t feel the need to sew quite so much anymore. I’m only the one person and since the OH and I don’t go to formal events that require us to be dressed up much. Added to the fact that I’m trying to clear out all the excess clothing I don’t seem to wear much, I try not to sew too much that I’m not going to get a chance to wear.

Seeing a pattern that calls to you, with a shape that you know will suit you and gives you ideas on what to make, really gets those creative juices flowing. Recently seeing one on Instagram did just that.

Discovering a new world of luxurious fabrics from Tissura

Anyone who is experienced with sewing and dressmaking will be able to tell you that the choice of fabric for any project, whether it be a jacket, dress or curtain, is very important. Choosing a lightweight cotton fabric for curtain doesn’t help serve its purpose; using heavyweight fabric for an evening gown makes it impractical. Finding suppliers who offer a great range of beautiful fabric can also be a tricky task. Most sewers are fascinated by haute couture designs, so it’ll come as no surprise that Tissura is the company that can supply you with the same high quality luxurious fabrics, directly from the manufacturers, that premier fashion houses use.

Wedding wardrobe complete: from start to finish!

My 3 dresses for the wedding: the Chinese wedding dress, the white wedding dress, and the evening reception dress

The Maid of Honour (left) and Bridesmaid dresses

I can’t tell you how satisfied (or how relieved!) I was to have finished all 5 dresses for the wedding: 3 of my own, the Maid of Honour and Bridesmaid dresses.

Goodbye, Miss T; Hello, Mrs C!

It’s official: I’m now the new (and third!) Mrs C!

Updates on my wedding dressmaking project: the evening reception dress

I thought when I posted my idea for my evening reception dress that it would have been finished before the summer was over. I think I was getting a bit over-ambitious (or slacking?) because I’m still working on it. I was planning to work on a couple of other exciting dressmaking projects (here and here), but it doesn’t look like I’ll get started (or finished) before the wedding.

The good news is, I’m making good progress with the evening reception dress though with only 9 hours worth of cutting, pinning and sewing (by machine and by hand)!

Dressmaking project: the evening reception glam LBD

I was trying to decide on the material to use for my evening reception dress, I came across the silver and gold lace fabric with the black undertones. I was swithering between them only because I’m partial to silver, but eventually a work friend of mine convinced me to go with the gold and I couldn’t agree more. The next issue I had though was deciding what coloured fabric to use underneath.

Wedding dressmaking update: the white one

Now that the red Chinese wedding dress is done, it was time to focus my efforts on the traditional white dress for the ceremony. I had taken a few days off back in February to hopefully get both dresses finished at the time, but it didn’t quite work out as planned.

Progress on the wedding dresses…kind of

Since I posted about the plans for my wedding dresses a month ago, I feel like I’ve made little progress. I’ve been to the shops to buy the rest of the materials I need, but I’ve rarely had time to work on it.

Work’s been realy busy and when it’s not, I’ve been stuck in wedding planning details (working out seating arrangements for family, finding quotes for hair and makeup, planning my hen party, to name a few), meeting with friends while also trying to keep up with classes, so for the amount of time I’ve spent on my dresses, there’s not much to show for it.

Beauty by Design: Fashioning the Renaissance

Occasionally, an interesting exhibit is shown at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery on Queen Street. When I saw a poster for the Beauty by Design poster, I knew it was time for another visit.

On board the sewing train…upcoming sewing projects!

This is going to be an exciting year, mainly because there’s still some things I need to do for the wedding, mainly minor details like getting invites and favours made. The most exciting part for every bride though is seeing The Dress and trying it on!

Spoiler Alert: For the first time ever, I’m going to reveal details about the wedding dresses I will be making soon, so if you want to be kept in the dark till the final dresses are made, don’t read any further down the post. I’ll warn you when this is going to happen!