Robe de mariée

One of my favorite projects of the past season was plagued with mishaps from the start. The first day I met Rachelle for our consultation, I had left my notes from our phone conversation at home, and couldn't even remember her name. She had gotten lost en route to the coffeeshop and arrived later than she wanted. We were both flustered and tense - but after a hot drink, some commiseration and laughter, and a little brainstorming, it was obvious that we were both going to enjoy the process of making her dream dress into reality.

Rachelle is a French teacher (whose now-husband Patrick is originally from France), and wanted a pretty countryside wedding that felt both Continental and comfortable, with a vintage-inspired wedding gown that she could relax in while still looking and feeling like the bride that she was. 

After drawing up the sketches, we ordered a bright, pearl white silk dupioni, but the wrong fabric arrived; when I pulled the silk out of the package, I was taken aback by the color. I wasn't sure what to call it, but it wasn't white. Nor was it gray, or silver, or gold. I suppose if I had to call it something, I'd say it was the palest platinum imaginable. What was certain was that it was one of the most gorgeous pieces of cloth I'd ever seen in my life. Instead of sending back to my supplier to exchange it for the correct fabric, I called Rachelle, and asked to meet her for another cup of coffee so I could show her what we'd received.

Rachelle - who'd broken her little foot and was now on crutches, mere weeks before her wedding - also fell in love with this silk we'd received by mistake. A close look at the cut edge revealed it was woven out of pale silver threads crossed with palest wheat-gold threads in the other direction. We couldn't tell if it was warm or cool, but because of that tiny hint of gold, changed our minds about the pearl buttons we'd originally planned and decided to use antique gold down the back and to fasten the deep cuffs. (I might have actually giggled when sewing them on, I was so pleased by the combination.)

The wedding day was set for late summer and we knew it would be very warm outside, so it was important to her that we use breathable fabrics as much as possible. We lined the gown with tissue linen, and I made a special removable crinoline underskirt out of linen instead of the usual poly to support just a few layers of the lightest-weight tulle.

Rachelle decided last-minute to add a simple ribbon sash of French blue to her ensemble, and I love the whole effect. Looks like someone else did, too!

My best wishes to you both! Rachelle, if the way you took all the setbacks and curve-balls before your wedding is any indication, you've got one of the best approaches to life I've seen. Your grace, humor and flexibility are invaluable gifts, and it was lovely to see all of that overflowing during a time that often stresses people to their limits. Cheers!!!

Special thanks to Sara Renee for the use of her lovely photos. Everyone, please visit www.sararenee.com and show her some love. =)

The Great Outdoors

I first met Dee last year when she had a bit of pre-Hawaii-vacation sewing for me to do. I liked her right away - she's got this great combination of no-nonsense-physical-therapist meets imaginative-fun-loving-kayaking-fantasy-geek vibe going on.

So I knew when she called me up a few months later to tell me that the Hawaii vacation "took" (part of the point of the getaway had been for her to spend a bit of focused time getting to know that handsome gentleman right there) and that she wanted to talk wedding party garb, that it was going to be out of the ordinary and it was going to be fun.

At our first design meeting, Dee came with the idea for the bridesmaids fairly well-set. Since all of the lovely ladies were down-to-earth women who were comfortable in who they are and none of them were particularly girly, Dee wanted to have them in laid-back, flowing garments instead of the usual cocktail dresses. The reception was planned for a wooded area next to the river, and she didn't want anyone held back from enjoying themselves by having to worry about finicky clothes! After scouring the local fabric shops, we decided on wide-legged linen pants in a tobacco brown and mandarin-collared tunic vests a crinkly, sheer sage over simple chocolate tank tops. 

The bridal fabric was a bit more difficult to settle on, until a magic moment when we held a lovely light embroidered sheer over a soft, flowing white pongee. Dee actually jumped up and down and clapped her hands like a delighted little girl (and then recovered and gave me her more standard high-five.) It WAS pretty stuff, very lightweight and cool, and was the unexpectedly perfect thing to use for the design we'd developed. 

Dee doesn't wear dresses all that often herself, so her primary considerations were that it be comfortable, fitting her athletic and outdoorsy personality, but also - she admitted - she wanted to feel a little bit like a princess. Maybe an elf. She had come to me with the basic idea of a sleeveless tank dress with a boat neck and a keyhole back. We tweaked it a bit to work with her jewelry and the fabric we'd found, and the end result made us both smile.

(Their getaway car was a kayak. As in, they actually paddled away from the reception. How cool is that?)

Congratulations, you two!

Photos all courtesy of Wendy Sue Tipton.

The NotWedding Dress Fitting

Friends, it's been a whirlwind over the last few weeks - a fun cyclone of traveling, not sleeping much, and sewing, sewing, sewing. I had the fantastic opportunity to attend the "rehearsal dinner" for the Atlanta NotWedding three weeks ago, and took down with me the then-incomplete gown to do some fitting on Tinika, the gorgeous model who would be wearing it for the event.

Besides looking stunning and being incredibly warm, funny, and down-to-earth,
Tinika is a professional model and is used to people having to be all up in her personal space - 
which is always nice when you're in a tiny bathroom trying to fit a dress skeleton on
someone you just met! We had a blast.

Sarah Esther was in there with us, snapping away with her camera, and so unobtrusive
that I nearly forgot she was even present. That's a great thing in a photographer,
by the way. I highly recommend her.

Tinika had taken careful measurements ahead of time, so there wasn't a lot to be corrected; but as a roommate of mine once said, "The female body is a topographical nightmare" - and there are always in-person adjustments that need to be made, especially for a dress with transparent construction like I was planning. This fine muslin underdress was to be the basis for the overdress that I completed back in Chattanooga over the next couple of weeks, and so I needed it to fit perfectly so that I could make everything else fit to it.

This is the unfinished blouse that goes on top of the underdress; and here is where the fitting proved to be vitally important. Tinika has scoliosis - a curve in her spine that isn't obvious from her measurements, but does impact the symmetry of her back. I was able to alter the blouse so that it wouldn't gape or sit askew when she wears it. 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand...I can't let you go without a sneak peek at how the gown turned out. More on this later! Many many thanks to Sarah Esther Photography for the use of these stellar images.

Headed to The NotWedding, 2012

On my plate for February - making two wedding gowns for actual brides, making plans for a third gown and wedding party-full of outfits for another bride, odds and ends of alterations for local customers, a couple of costumes for my alma mater's production of Aida, aaaaaaaaaaaand...making this.

Yep, I'm headed to The NotWedding (happening March 8 in Atlanta - would love to see you there!), and am so excited to be a part of the fun happenings with other fantastic vendors and once again provide the bridal gown (see last year's here.) The inspiration photo we were sent for the event showed a sleek, dark-haired woman on a deck chair in front of a gigantic, pale coral Asian parasol. She wore a light-colored swimsuit and a modified cloche/bathing cap - the whole scene was fairly minimal and quite early-1900s-influenced. I loved the parasol with its spokes, and the turn-of-the-last-century feel, and decided to incorporate some of that into this design, while keeping a bit of modernity with the low V back and a few details with the buttons and sash that I didn't put in the sketch.

The whole thing will be sewn of my favorite tissue linen (it's such gorgeous, soft, lightweight-but-crisp stuff!) with pintucks and fan-pleats galore. I decided to let you all in on the process this year - so I'll warn you, there may be some publicly expressed angst coming up as I get down to the actual pattern development and construction of the gown. Things might change along the way. I might have to dye the sash five times (oh mercy, I hope not.) I might have to enlist assistance finding the exact buttons I want (so far, the shopping list of attributes in my head includes "square", "fabulous", and "sparkly but muted".) But whatever - it's going to be fun!

...even if I get no sleep during the shortest month of the year in order to get it all done. 

Architect's Gown

Some of my favorite design influences are artists, architects, and furniture-makers of the late 19th/early 20th century. I'm no student of the Prairie School and I couldn't necessarily look at a given structure and tell you who created it; but there is something running through many of the designs from the era that makes my heart hum happily whenever I encounter it.

Now, I promised photos of this gown to you months ago but have run into multiple snags getting it actually ON A MODEL and professionally shot (can't have anything to do with the fact that I initially made it for a model who is 5'10" and a size negative 2!) The gown was displayed at my latest artisan-market-day and I took a couple of minutes during the beautiful sunlit afternoon to snap a pic or two.

click to enlarge

The body fabric is ivory silk dupioni, and the hand-pieced panel down the front is made of a dozen different fabrics from other gowns I've made. Silks, a satin, linens, hemps, bamboo, cotton; all in shades of ivory and white. Each tiny section is outlined with a heavy machine topstitch in ivory to mimic the leading in a stained glass window. This is perhaps the most fun I've yet had in creating a gown and I'm in love with it! One of the things that delights me about this gown design is that the "window" will necessarily vary from dress to dress, as it will be created to specifically complement the shape and scale of the custom-fit gown.

click to enlarge

Now, in related news, I am hard at work designing a completely new gown for the next NotWedding in Atlanta this March! The theme has a bit of a 1920s vibe to it, and my mind is swirling with ideas. I will, however, be taking an entire week off after Christmas to read, write, clean, and organize, and in general clear the slate to begin 2012 with an unobstructed view to the horizon.

Have a lovely last couple of weeks of the year, friends. Practice joy as you celebrate the holidays with people you love (and people you have to work on loving!) As you find yourself overflowing, may your abundance nourish others. As you find yourself empty, may you find that which was meant to fill you. To all of you - Merry Christmas!

New Friends

Lovely peoples,

The new site is still in the works, but I've left you far too long here without an update. I promise that soon I will do a little sketch-to-reality post on my newest creation - probably as my first blog post on the new site! - but for now, some lovely, lovely photos by several of the new friends I made last week in Atlanta at The NotWedding.

First, a stunning little teaser from (once like a spark) photography (click the photo for full article)-

Second, the beautifully evocative portraiture of the long farewell (I was privileged to attend this shoot, and it was truly delightful to see the team in action!) -

This is Caroline, y'all - such a gorgeous, happy, lovely, hard-working, beautiful gal!

The custom veil, belt, and floral hairpiece are by my new friend Jessica at Fine & Fleurie. Major crush going on between me and her work.

Hair and makeup design by the sweet and ridiculously talented and laid-back Claudia Mejerle.

And this is why they call it Hotlanta.

Meet my new friends:
Claudia Mejerle - www.claudiamejerle.com
Fine & Fleurie {Jessica} - www.fineandfleurie.com
the long farewell {Chad & Tina} - www.thelongfarewell.com
(once like a spark) - www.oncelikeaspark.com

Polished Ivory

And they're finally here - the lovely photos from The Studio B Photography of my hemp/cotton Ivory Wicket Gown at a recent style shoot by Fine & Fleurie! It is such a privilege to have joined with these talented women for so much collective prettiness =).

Seriously, I want to go back in time to 1986 or so and tell that little girl, drawing floor plans and making clothes for her paper dolls (because her mother wisely wouldn't buy her the uncreative preprinted ones), about the real patterns she'd make and real dolls she was going to get to dress up one day!

Hemp and Cotton

This happy bride (look at them glowing!) wore one of my custom Wicket gowns at her recent wedding. She wanted a dress in eco-friendly, sustainably produced fabrics, and chose my gown because of the hemp/cotton outer fabric.

 "Everyone was amazed by the dress at the wedding...
they couldn't believe an organic cotton & hemp dress could be so beautiful!"
- T.G.S., Green Lane, PA

It's an absolutely delightful fabric - not as wrinkly as linen, soft and breathable while still being sturdy and substantial. I love working with it.

Congratulations, you two, and all the best in your new marriage!

How A Dress Happens

 It has been a month of hard work. I don't have the official photos yet of this recent custom wedding dress job, but I promised the bride a little mini-documentary on how the process went, so here it is for all of you!

First I gathered supplies - fabrics (silk, lace, lining, interlining, interfacing), pins (several hundred of them), and my design drawing and customer's measurements for reference.

More photos and full description ~>

Beautiful Age

My great-grandmother Jean Olive passed away in 2002. She was one hundred and two years old, and had battled cancer (skin and colon) for decades. Even with a body so ravaged, she had a humorous glint in her eyes and was tall and beautiful. I remember asking her a couple of years before she died if she felt as though she were the whole world's big sister - older than almost everyone, still in possession of a very good mind and pretty good senses - and she just laughed at my question. "No," she answered, "But I really am enjoying seeing my great-grandchildren as adults. Not everyone gets to see that."

The dress, before I began dismantling it. A strong breath could reduce sections
of it to powder, but the lace border is still quite strong.

I've been cutting up and framing pieces of an ancient wedding gown that was given to me, and from what I can deduce, it was likely made before my great-grandmother was born. I keep wondering about the woman - or women - who wore it, and what their lives were before and after the day that they lived in this gown.

Lovely stuff. It's heavy and rich still.

Thinking about age and use and what it does to beauty - how it can deepen it even as it erases it - always reminds me of one little moment in the middle of Orwell's 1984.

Julia had come across to his side; together they gazed down with a sort of fascination at the sturdy figure below. As he looked at the woman in her characteristic attitude, her thick arms reaching up for the line, her powerful mare-like buttocks protruded, it struck him for the first time that she was beautiful. It had never before occurred to him that the body of a woman of fifty, blown up to monstrous dimensions by childbearing, then hardened, roughened by work till it was coarse in the grain like an over-ripe turnip, could be beautiful. But it was so, and after all, he thought, why not? The solid, contourless body, like a block of granite, and the rasping red skin, bore the same relation to the body of a girl as the rose-hip to the rose. Why should the fruit be held inferior to the flower?

'She's beautiful,' he murmured.

'She's a metre across the hips, easily,' said Julia.

'That is her style of beauty,' said Winston.

He held Julia's supple waist easily encircled by his arm. From the hip to the knee her flank was against his. Out of their bodies no child would ever come. That was the one thing they could never do. Only by word of mouth, from mind to mind, could they pass on the secret. The woman down there had no mind, she had only strong arms, a warm heart, and a fertile belly. He wondered how many children she had given birth to. It might easily be fifteen. She had had her momentary flowering, a year, perhaps, of wild-rose beauty and then she had suddenly swollen like a fertilized fruit and grown hard and red and coarse, and then her life had been laundering, scrubbing, darning, cooking, sweeping, polishing, mending, scrubbing, laundering, first for children, then for grandchildren, over thirty unbroken years. At the end of it she was still singing. 

I have nothing more to add to that, only, that at the end of whatever I am used for in this life, I want to be still singing.

Retro Wedding Dress

A little 1960s influence in a silk twill, knee-length dress. (The customer tells me she's wearing a little pillbox hat with it. Yippee!)

(Had to take the photos at night, unfortunately, but at least it was a nice, light-catching fabric!)

More photos and full description ~>

You Are Feeling GOOD Today!

I remember a sweet, mentally-handicapped man that used to work in my college cafeteria. He loved seeing girls wearing long, flowing skirts and dresses - it entranced him - and one day I walked in wearing one. He bounded over to me. "Hi! You are?" he asked. "I'm Bekah," I introduced myself (for the 480th time). "HI!" he repeated, adding, "You are feeling GOOD today!"

Which may have been one of the coolest compliments I've ever received.

And that is an almost completely unrelated story to what I came in here to tell you, which is, "Lookee what one of my lovely customers sent me! It's a link to the really fantastic photos from her wedding, and she's actually wearing a dress I made! IN the PICTURES! And she added this fantastic little yellow cardigan/bolero thing that I am STOKE-ED about!"

...ahem. Yes. As I promised, here is the link to the photos. With major thanks to the (beaming, beautifully unique) bride and the (very talented and polished) photographer for their generosity in letting me show off how good we all feel.

In Which To Play Croquet and Be Wed

"Oh, it came and it's beautiful! It fits perfectly, and I'm so happy with it. My sister, mother, mother-in-law, and best friend all (separately) said "That dress is so YOU!" when I sent them the pictures...I can't think of anything else I'd rather have heard. Thank you so much, Bekah, it's the best dress I could have asked for."


- E.G. in Chicago

More photos and full description ~>

Got Buttons?

Thanks to the lovely seller at Buttered Parsnips, who covered 20 buttons with this very cool hemp/cotton blend I'm working with - here's a sneak preview of the wedding dress that is one of several projects I'm finishing this weekend.

Her Great-Grandmother's Brooch

"The first decision I made in planning my wedding was that I wanted Bekah to make my wedding dress. After seeing her beautiful work on a friend's wedding gown, I knew that I wanted to work with her to create my own, uniquely me garment..."



(Click on the photos for high-quality images and zoom!)

More photos and full description ~>

Catie's Wedding Dresses

Plural, because I made six dresses for her wedding.

Here is one.




















(and a half, because I altered the one I'm wearing.)


(That's me on the bed.)


(I got terrible wrinkles in my vintage sky blue acetate-and-lace gown, just for relaxing for a few minutes like that. The nerve.)

























And here are some of the bridesmaids. The strapless dresses are the Eclair pattern, unaltered, that was also the basis for my flower dress in the previous post. The pleated-ruffle-collar dress is a pattern of my own making (I got some basic dimensions from Simplicity #2497.)

I will be posting some good, up close images later on of all the dresses - I have to get them from the incredible photographers who sensibly protect their photos on their websites from nefarious photo-stealing people like myself. They didn't protect a few of their Facebook postings, which is how I stole these, but they are my personal friends and will forgive me.

Photos (so far) by photolodico. More to come from both her and redleafphotography.