Tuesday, August 4, 2009

I did a lot of reading in my book today as I was at the eye surgeon with dad for his cataract surgery for most of the day. I read about the characteristics of the different types of fabrics and laces. I am still trying to figure out what kind of lace is on the front of the dress. It looks like it could be a chantilly lace, but I also talked to Anna tonight about using some silk organza as the background fabric and appliquéing the Alencon Lace border around the bottom then appliquéing the Alencon motifs more densely toward the bottom and dwindling off as we get higher. I will look for this type of lace when I make the trip to Asheville, probably sometime next week. I also did a little more sketching of the back of the dress tonight. I think I have come close to an option. I like the look of it; I just need to experiment with the fabric once I have the muslin for the outer dress cut out. I also began to write out the directions for the construction of the dress. Without a pattern, I have no directions so I am having to go through it step by step so I don’t forget something and have to go back and rip it out to fix it. This is a time consuming exercise, but worth it in the end! I also did a little straightening up. I have so many patterns pulled out of my folders and files so I need to get all the pieces put back into their envelopes and refile them all. It is a good system that I have but only if I put things back. I have all my pattern sleeves with the directions in individual clear plastic pockets and organized by dresses, skirts, evening etc. Then I have all the pattern pieces in clasp envelopes and I put a copy of the front of the pattern sleeve picture on the front of the clasp envelope and file them in numerical order in big plastic bins. That way I can look through my big binders, find the pattern I am looking for then find the pattern pieces in the clasp envelope that is filed by number. I don't separate pattern companies, I just group them together but all in numerical order. It works great, we used this method at school in the costume department. (Not an original idea but it works, that's all that matters!)

Monday, August 3, 2009

I am still trying to tie up lose ends here at the house then I am heading to Mary Jo’s once more to talk to someone there about the silk taffeta and if they can order me more of the sample that I picked up in June. I am also going to take another look at the laces that they have in stock. I was online again today looking for fabric stores and I found several up in NYC that may be able to help me and I have another one in Atlanta, and one in Asheville to check out. I would really prefer to purchase this from someplace where I can see it in person rather than over the internet.
I talked to the lady that I like to work with and she found a bolt of the fabric in white so she took a piece of mine and they will try to order it for me tomorrow. I need 46 yards altogether for the lining, the underdress and the outerdress. I still need to interline the under-dress and the outer-dress with something, I have been reading and I think the silk organza is a good option. It’s characteristics include stability and soft but substantial stiffening which I will need for the underdress as that is what the fluffs are attached to and for the fluffs themselves, Anna doesn’t want them too puffy, but we do want them to stand out and not flatten. We also discussed the Alencon lace. She spoke of the fabric store in Asheville and said many of their customers have found what then needed there as they carry different fabrics than Mary Jo’s so it looks like a trip to Asheville is in my future! That’s OK, I love going to different fabric stores. Actually whenever Anna and I go to NYC, she can expect a tour of the fabric stores if she is with me! I love to see what is out there!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

August 2, 2009
Today I didn’t work on the dress much other than reading more about lace and construction. Kind of had a day off. I did work on the journal and posted it all onto the blogspot.com website. I need to get some pictures up onto it then I will send it out to more prople. Fun!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

This is a different day as I am meeting Anna and Jacob at the airport as they fly through on their way to a Kenneth Copeland Conference. We finally find each other in the baggage claim area and go into the bathroom. Jacob goes to sit down as Anna and I have our first dress fitting in the handicapped stall in the airport – Can you believe that! There are six hours between Anna and I so whenever and wherever we can meet in the next few months, we will be having a dress fitting! I have brought the mulin pattern for the underdress with me. We pin up the bottom so it is not on the bathroom floor – at least they don’t look to dirty – and I begin to pin. The pattern is not too far off as I had her measurements before we started so I had an idea of what the size should be. This is a very fitted strapless dress so it has to fit perfectly. (Although we may put some small straps on it covered in the Alencon lace, not sure on that design element yet.) The thing that is so cool about the muslin pattern is you can put the dress on your model inside out enabling you to pin the seams to fit perfectly, but when you do this on a normal dress with your fashion fabric, when you put the dress back on right side out, the sides you pinned will now be on the opposite side of your model. With the muslin, the sides I am pinning will actually become the pattern for that side of the dress so it WILL fit perfectly! This is the coolest thing and I learned it from the books! I was going to make the dress out of the muslin just to practice. I never thought that I would be able to take the muslin dress apart after fitting it to her and use that for the actual pattern! It makes so much sense, I love it and I found it out from a book! Imagine that! Love the books! So after we get finished with the pinning I mark all the pins with a pen just in case any fall out and we go out to meet Jacob. We get a Starbucks and look through some pictures I brought with me from the designer that Anna has chosen. We can see the front of Anna’s dress, but not the back so I want her to look at some examples I have then see what I have drawn to get an idea of what she it thinking. We talk and design and finally come up with a meeting of the minds. It is so important to me that I understand what is in her head so we can get it down on paper and work with it. Jacob is so great, he just sits there with his I-phone entertaining himself as he knows he is not allowed to see ANY of these pictures and I can see that he really doesn’t want to see them, he wants this to be a surprise for him too! No wonder she loves him so much! We part ways, I find my way back to my car, stop and pick up a corsage and boutonnière for Mom and Dad (today is their 65th wedding anniversary) head home to get cleaned up and changed. Randy and I drive over to Mom and Dad’s to pick them up, they are dressed in black and white. Dad has rented a white dinner jacket and we are on our way to my nephew’s wedding! They are adorable and a wonderful testimony of committment and true love! Wow a busy day!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

OK, I am at Mary Jo’s and need to be at my nieces in two hours, that gives me an hour to get what I need and head up to Concord. I figure this should be pleanty of time as I already have a piece of the silk taffeta and they have such wonderful lace I should be out of here in an hour. Reality Check! Nothing ever goes as planned. First, we couldn’t find the same silk taffeta that I had picked up about a month ago on my swatch gathering trip. (Mental note: Always write down the manufacturer and style number of the swatch I won't do this again!) She searches the entire table which has to be 20 feet long and piled about 4 bolts deep of every kind of wedding silk you can imagine, but of course not my silk taffeta. They have it in white but no ivory. So she goes upstairs to see what they have in stock. While she is gone searching, I figure I will check out the lace. They have the Alencon pattern that I saw online, it is really beautiful, but what are these yellow spots all over it! This is awful as this fabric is $95 per yard. I ask what this is and Alencon lace is a re-embroidered lace. They take a shiny thin cord and attach it to outline the lace pattern. I guess when they came to the end of a piece of cord to prevent it from unraveling, they dabed on a little glue. The glue had yellowed, how awful; I won’t be buying this piece!! I continue to look. Their supply of Alencon lace is really getting low and the girl tells me that they will not be ordering any more. I guess their supplier was not going to make it anymore so they bought everything that the supplier had left and when it is gone, it is gone. I continue to look. Not having too much success in finding a 36” piece that goes with the border pieces. So I begin to look at the beaded options. Anna doesn’t really want a lot of beads on her gown but there aren’t really a lot of beads on the lace, and there isn’t a lot of lace on the gown so maybe she would go for this. I find some beautiful stuff but can’t find two kinds to go together. Oh No, Dress 911! Can you believe it, we have looked at this fabric for years, gawked, drooled, wished, dreamed and here we are ready to pay and I can’t find anything that is going to work! This means more internet research. I really don’t want to make a purchase like this over the internet. The lady returns from the stock area with an unopened bolt of silk taffeta I get excited. We unroll it and it is too light in color and actually quite a bit heavier than the silk taffeta that I had originally purchased. I want the lighter weight one as there are so many puffs on the dress and 37 yards of fabric would be better if the fabric felt like air. Oops! I’m going to be late. I thank the clerk for all her help and leave for Shawna’s house, I am a bit disappointed, but not discouraged, I know I will find the perfect fabrics!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Today I am going to begin cuting out the muslin for the gown. I cut out the under dress and begin to mark all the dots, straight of grain, label front, side front, etc. Then I measure up from the hem at 2 ½ inches, 8” another 8” 7 ½”, then up 7 more inches. These will be the points that I will cut the pattern for the outer layer of the dress and add 12 inches of fabric between each line for the extra fabric needed to pull up and make the puffs and layers. I have determined that this dress will consist of a lining layer, an under dress that will be interfaced, and an overdress that will be attached randomly to the undress at predetermined pick-up points and semi ruffles, just like the picture! I call Anna, which size train did you decide you wanted? She likes the cathedral train which measures 7 ½ feet from your back waist. So I lay out the back and side back pattern pieces on the foyer floor and begin to draw out the train on the interfacing that I am using for a pattern piece. The foyer (which is a good size) is not large enough for the whole thing, so I have to move my table in the living room, roll up my oriental rug and work on the floor in there. Perfect! Yea, it is all drawn out. I begin to measure everything and figure out that I will need 37 yards of the silk taffeta to make the under dress, train, and overdress. I still haven’t decided which silk I am lining the dress in. I may line it with the silk taffeta because I have chosen a really light weight one, it feels like heaven! I measure all along the edges of the dress and train and figure that I need 16 yards of the Alencon Lace scalloped trim and since it usually comes in about a 6” or 9” piece with double scalloped edge I will only need 8 yards of that and then about 1 ½ yards of the 36” corresponding lace for the front part. So I write out everything that I need, gather up my swatches of fabrics, pack my bag and get off to bed. I am heading to Mary Jo’s tomorrow and buy all the fabric for the dress! I am so excited!

Monday, July 27, 2009

So,I am off to the Libraray to pick up the books. I dive right into them and lose track of time reading and loving all the information I am finding out. You can never get too much instruction when you are undertaking new projects and you can never make a mistake trying to learn something new! So I continue to read until about 3AM (this is kind of normal for me).

Sunday, July 26, 2009

It's Sunday morning, we pack up and say good-by to Anna and Jacob. We are on our way from Goldsboro to Wilmington for the day! Grandpa hasn’t seen his grandson yet so since Wilmington is only 1 ½ hours from Goldsboro, we are going for the day to visit. While Randy is on his e-mail in the car, (I was driving) he tells me that my books are in! That will be first on my list for Monday morning!

Friday & Saturday, July 24 & 25, 2009

Randy and I are leaving today for Goldsboro where Anna and Jacob are in Ashley and Adam’s wedding tomorrow. We are going in tonight for the rehearsal dinner. It is beautiful and Ashley is georgeous. The wedding is fun, Anna and Jacob both sang during the wedding ceremony, they are so talented and so perfect together, God is so good!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

I am a huge reader whenever I do anything new. I made my own wedding gown thirty-three years ago, but it is nothing like this one. So I begin to look online for helpful information. I really don’t find any great sites, but I did find a couple interesting books. The books are no longer in print so I decide to get what I can from the library. It’s not that I mind paying the $40 for the used book, but without knowing what the content is, I can’t return a used book so off to the library online site I go. I reserve the book "Bridal Couture Fine Sewing Techniques for Wedding Gowns and Evening Wear" along with three others they had "Beautiful Bridal Accessories You Can Make", "I Do Veils So Can You!", and "Sewing for Sepcial Occasions; Bridal, Prom, & Evening Dresses". Yea! I can't wait for them to come in, so I continue to sketch and pray and think about all the steps and layers involved in this dress.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

I am off to Wilmington today, I just became a new Grandmother, thus the name GiGi! Our oldest son Evan, and his wife Jenny (who went with us last weekend to try on wedding dresses) have given birth to the most precious baby boy, Charlie! He is perfect. So I am driving to Wilmington for the day and will return tonight! I’m so excited!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

During one of our conversations, Anna tells me she really likes the Alencon lace. Her dress has a section of lace that peaks out in the front and a little lace up at the sweetheart neckline. Because we are creating the dress, we can do anything we want so she decides she really likes the scalloped lace that goes all around the edge of the bottom and the train. So I am now searching for a pretty pattern in the Alencon lace. We live very close to one of the largest fabric stores in the nation, Mary Jo’s, and Anna and I have spent hours in that store looking at fabric over the years. Sometimes we would wander into the bridal department and dream of the day that I would make her dress – IT IS HERE! Yea! So I am off to Mary Jo’s with Penny (Randy’s cousin’s wife) to look at the lace, buy the muslin for the dress pattern, and buy the fabric for the beautiful velvet cape trimmed in fur that I am also making for her. I get all my fabric cut for the cape and go take a look at the lace. They have the Alencon lace and it is exquisite, how beautiful it will look on her dress! Next order of business is to figure out the pattern and calculate the yardage.

Monday, July 13, 2009

I have been praying and thinking and sketching now for about three weeks. I have been gathering random one yard pieces of fabric to show to Anna for approval, trying to piece existing patterns together to come up with the general shape of the dress and Wow! I realized that Anna has never tried on a wedding dress in her life! What if she puts this dress on and doesn’t really like this style after I have it all made – this is not good. So we decide to visit a couple of wedding boutiques and try on some different styled gowns. We meet in Wilmington on Saturday, July 18th along with my daughter-in-law Jenny (who is almost ready to have a baby, she actually went into labor two days later) who goes with us for moral support and we watch as this sweet young girl comes out of the fitting room with dress after dress on. She looks like a fairy princess and I get all teary because I just can’t believe that she is actually getting married in five months. Reality check, get a grip mom, hold back the tears and focus. You need to help her to stay focused and figure this all out. Anna was having a ball, she was beaming all over, and no surprise, she loved the “ball style gown” that she originally fell in love with and the style that she gave me to make. I say no surprise because Anna has always known what she likes, but Mom just needed to be sure. So we are back on track to recreate this stunning designer gown. I am so excited and I know she is too!

A little background

This is a journal of my experience making my daughter Anna’s wedding gown. My husband has encouraged me to document all this so here goes.

I remember when she sent me the gorgeous picture of a designer gown last February that one of her girlfriends had sent to her. It was absolutely stunning and I remember thinking how she would look just like a fairy princess in it! After she and Jacob became engaged in April 2009 she asked if I would make that dress for her. When Anna was very little, probably about two, Randy bought me a new Pfaff fancy sewing machine and a serger. I used to make her everything from pajamas to Pendleton Wool Swing Coats and all with her private label, “Anna Marie Exclusives” Of course I was thrilled, humbled, and extremely excited that she had asked and trusted me with such an important job, to make her wedding dress! I said yes to the dress! Ha! Ha! Yea, another “Anna Marie Exclusive”. I haven’t made one of those in a very long time.

So began my quest to “figure this out”. When Anna was in high school she was heavily involved in the theater department – acting. One thing I never expected was to be involved with her, but when she got her first part in a play in eighth grade, I went down to the director’s office and told her I could sew if they needed any help. I returned home with a bolt of upholstery fabric, a pattern and a feeling of excitement and apprehension to make this “Gone with the Wind” style dress. I had an absolute terrific time. I was given free reign to embellish it as I saw fit and it was a blast. This was the beginning of five years of creating many dresses for the school plays. We made dresses that truthfully looked like they were from a Broadway stage! This is where I got my experience fitting clothes to other people, and taking a picture and figuring out how to create the dress. I have sewn for years for myself, but never liked fitting clothes to other people. Over those five years I recreated first ladies inaugural gowns, beautiful silk beaded ball gowns, redesigned existing gowns from the costume closet, figuring out how to cover Mrs. Potts teapot arm from Beauty and the Beast and the list goes on and on. Anyway, I guess in all that, Anna watched me take pictures of dresses and see them come to life on my “lady” (my manikin). I think this is where she just figured that I could take this “picture” of the designer gown and make it come to life for her big day! Thus began about a month of praying, sketching, thinking, more praying, more thinking, more sketching, and more searching on the internet for ideas (we didn’t have a back view of the dress so we were going to have to make it up). I told her the dress would probably take me about a month of prayer and thinking to figure it out, then probably a month of sewing to bring it to life. I refer to it as “bringing it to life” because whenever I would make one of the gowns for school, I would call Karen (the mom in charge of the costumes) and tell her that “I have just given birth to another creation!” And so it goes, Anna and I will once again give birth to another creation! What a responsibility, I could never do it without knowing that the Lord would be there guiding me along. You may ask, what are you talking about, I can tell you there have been many times that I was about to cut something out backwards, or sew something together wrong and the phone would ring, or something would happen that would make me rethink what I was about to do and it would miraculously work out correctly. So I have to give the credit to the Lord for giving me the talent to sew and keeping me humble enough to rely on Him for help. Without that, this would be a bit overwhelming for “The Mother of the Bride”!