Before and after of some mother of the bride dress alterations. The original dress on the left had a chiffon cape overlay. My customer liked how it covered her arms but didn’t like how it covered up the beautiful lace underneath. So I removed the cape and used the fabric to make flowy sleeves to add on instead. I also hemmed the dress to have a slight high low hem so there’s no risk of tripping and the shoes get to be shown off too. |
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👗👗👗👗👗Earlier this year I was asked to make 5 bridesmaid dresses for my college roommates wedding in July. She had found some dresses that she really liked (see inspiration photo) but they would have to be ordered online, there wasn’t really an indication on sizing, they were coming from China and there were no returns or exchanges. So instead of risking it she thought she would get me to make the dresses! They would fit the girls better and the quality would be much better. We started with looking at commercial patterns to help me with sizing since everyone was a different size. There were no patterns that were the exact same as the inspiration but I found Simplicity 8289 with a bodice that was pretty close (she actually liked it better) and I could make the handkerchief hem skirt on my own to add on to it. The fabric for the dress is a beautiful ornate lace overtop of a plain navy cotton and lined with the same navy cotton, to keep the dress lightweight and cool to wear in the heat of summer. With the lace on top you can’t even tell that it’s just a simple cotton underneath. I offered the girls 2 different styles of straps so they could pick which they were most comfortable wearing and adjusted some of the patterns to bring up the neckline slightly on some of the dresses. I started with making the bodice for each dress and then had the girls come for a fitting. Once the bodices were fitted and adjustments were made I could make the skirts to attach. Now because I wanted to use the lace edge for the hem the dresses couldn’t be hemmed afterwards so length measurements were taken during the fitting and individual skirt patterns were made for each dress. One last final fitting to make sure the dresses were good to go and they were all ready for the wedding day! The girls all loved their dresses and said they will get lots of use out of them because they don’t look like your typical bridesmaid dress. I had so much fun creating and customizing these dresses. Kind words from the bride:
Nicole is SOOO talented! I met Nicole in college and was amazed at what she was able to create back then! In July, I got married and I had the Privilege of having Nicole make our girls dresss by hand! BEAUTIFUL! They turned out absolutely stunning, and everyone looked fabulous!!!! So many compliments on them Can’t thank you enough Nicole!!!!! Xoxo This past summer it was requested by 3 different new moms who were in their friends weddings to have their bridesmaid dresses altered so that they could easily feed their baby’s during the day. This alteration has to be done a little different on every dress but turned out successful on each one. On the dress below, the shoulders needed to be taken up so I was able to add 5 snaps on each for a secure yet easy way to open up the dress for breastfeeding.
This is a dress I made for myself for a summer wedding. I gathered a few inspiration photos then went to work making it, changing a few things as I went. Designing and making clothes for myself is a little easier then making them for other people because I can change, fit, and try on things as I'm working on it. One great thing about this dress is I only had to buy a zipper for it, both the outer and lining fabrics were from my stash. I am very happy with how this dress turned out! Sometimes when a bride is planning her wedding she has a theme that she wants to carry throughout the entire wedding or she can envision every little detail of her wedding, and it would make it a perfect day if everything could look like how she envisions. I had a bride who was planning her wedding with a country picnic theme. She really wanted red checkered bridesmaid dresses but of course could not find dresses that unique in a bridal boutique. So, she came to me to get the job done. She just wanted something simple, nothing over the top. Together we came up with this simple strapless A-line dress with a touch of lace at the waist. The dresses turned out great and fit in to the theme of her wedding perfectly. The bride of this wedding found some nice light summer dresses on a sale rack at a retail store. They were the exact colour and style she was looking for but they needed a little something more to make them perfect. The dresses were a little to short in the front for her tall bridesmaids, so I fixed that by adding a second layer of fabric to the dresses. Doing this also allowed us to bring in the other wedding colour to the dresses and added more dimension to the dresses. Then to make the dress a little more fancy and look more like a bridesmaid dress, I created a sash to be tied around the waist of the dress with a bow at the back, again using the contrasting colour. And just like that I turned the summer dresses in to one of a kind bridesmaid dresses.
This is a easy way to get unique bridesmaid dresses that you won't find at a bridal boutique. You can have control over the colour combinations and design details to come up with the perfect bridesmaid dresses for your wedding! |
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