Sunday, October 25, 2009

Sunny october day

I've bookmarked a few sites online which talk about 1960s wedding fashions. This one is about a 1965 dress and this is a general 1960s overview. Both are fun reading.

The sun was out all day today so I ran into the garment district at lunch. I had lots of fun tracking down a few trims...

I don't know what I'll do with these exactly, but they're very pretty.

flowers

MJ Trim, if you haven't been, is VERY dangerous. See that blue tulle trim? I carried it around the store for half an hour before breaking down and deciding to buy some. It's $24/yard. Yikes. On the other hand, it's most likely going to be used on the coat I'm making to wear over my wedding dress... and it's beautiful... however if I keep buying $24/yard trim, I'm going to save absolutely no money whatsoever making my own dress. Well, If it doesn't get used on the coat I'll just use it for Kate or Ana's dresses, so it will get put to good use somehow. I bought some silk thread in the same blue as the tulle since it's pretty much going to have to be hand sewn on if it's not done in the style of a lace insert.

tulle trim


And these are laces for the nieces' christmas dresses.

lace

coat front Here's the coat fabric... a gorgeous blue silk duchess satin from Paron's. I pulled out a navy blue silk and asked if they had anything like that but stiffer, and this was a shelf over. Soooo beautiful... it's hard to photograph, it's a deep navy blue. I have to find a silk to line it (possibly a bright turquoise blue? That contrast could be really pretty), and think about whether it needs a silk organza underlining or if the satin is stiff enough to hold that neckline on its own. This coat is kind of funny, I doubt anyone but my family will ever see it, but I think it will be a nice project and my one chance to wear a satin coat. My sister, by the way, had claimed dibs on the dress in the coat pattern for her first choice for her bridesmaid dress. It's a pretty column dress that I could never wear, but will look wonderful on her.

blue duchess satin





dress neckline I also finished up my niece Ana's halloween dress. It's very similar to her big sister's dress, but without the stomacher and point at the front. Instead of a ruffle at the top of a pretend stomacher, there's a just a bit of lace around the neckline. The lace on the cuffs and at the hem is from my grandma- we had to wash and then iron it because it just spent the last 50 years rolled up in a drawer in her sewing room.

halloween dress for ana

5 comments:

Meg said...

Hi Wendy! When I made a dress out of duchesse satin in Susan Khalje's class, she had me interline it with organza and line it with silk crepe. And I don't know if you've ever sewn with silk duchesse satin before, but it curls wicked bad. But it is beautiful stuff.

Lisette M said...

Beautiful trims, I'm in love with the flowers.

Houkje said...

Exciting times for you! Congratulations on your engagement, I look forward to seeing your dress in progress! Do you have a date set yet?

Karin van Dam said...

How exciting to see your plan the dress and coat and.. everything. I think the coat will be gorgeous. I can't wait to see it finished!

Faye Lewis said...

Thank you for the wonderful complement on my jacket!