Capable Hands

I have entrusted the rather daunting task of altering my dresses to my future Mother and sister in law. I never learned to sew. I've been working to correct that shortcoming, but so far I'm only cofident enough to make puppets and pillows for the kids. Years ago, when I found my dress the first phone call I made was to tell Lara to get her butt down to Goodwill.

She found her dress that day too:

She snatched up this designer sample from a boutique that went out of business for a cool $70.

Here's the dress on her:

A close-up of the lace:

The top and sleeves:

The train

It was the right silhouette and the lace was pretty, but what she wanted was this:

A beautiful Claire Pettibone design with lots of lace and sleeves that seem to float unattached to the dress. She and her mother worked six months altering her dress and made this:

I'd call that DIY project a roaring sucess. She looked amazing. I'm so excited that the duo that made that stunning dress is putting their heads together for mine!

Deflating

I was full of potential, hope, possibility, enthusiasm and things to say. Until today, today feels a little less upbeat. I did not check any wedding to do's off of the checklist today. It's sad because there were some big one's looming. I lost my computer, in the dearly departed sense not the misplaced way. Which meant no emails, no wedding message boards, no research and no blogging until now.

How did people plan large scale events before the internet? I didn’t spend the day pouting or anything. I showed my mom the finished bodice of my ceremony dress, in person, today and I'm pretty sure she was amazed. I certainly am.

Before:

After:

I like it so much better this way. That excess stuff was overcrowding the beautiful detail work. Beyond that decision I made from day one with absolute certainty and the ruching detail I'm adding to the skirt I haven't the foggiest, how this dress will end up.

I should feel relief that my wishes were so swiftly and expertly carried out (and I do!), but I'm still feeling lost in a land of too many choices. I'm also feeling a lot of guilt for my inability to sew, for sure. There are now two wedding dresses and two flower girl dresses under my direction on other people's to do lists. So, like I said I feel deflated today. I wish I had some triumph equal to the bodice completion to announce blogside, but I just have a growing sense of impatience at all the things I can't do yet.

Maybe I'll eat a cookie give myself a little wedding planning pep talk and get back on the horse tomorrow.

Dress Update: Making the Dress Work for You

Remember this bodice with all the sprinkles? It was pretty over embellished in my opinion. I loved the swirly bit that reminds me of a Celtic knot, but it was over crowded. Before:

Here's the front as designed by Alfred Angelo

Here's the back as Designed by Alfred Angelo

So, for anyone who thinks you can't have a custom dress I say $75 designer dress (from Goodwill) plus gentle application of exact-o knife. Brace yourself, here's what it looks like now:

Here's the front as re-designed by the bride and de-sprinkled (1/2 way) by my future sister in law.

Here's the back as re-designed by the bride and de-sprinkled by my FSIL.

So much better, right. Told you not to worry, Mom. We have plans to add some color in some where too. It's going to be beautiful and just wait until we get through with the skirt!