Meet Bea

(Hi. I'm Beatrice. Bea for short.)

Bea is my body double, or more technically, my dress form! It's pretty cool having a body double. At least the trunk of one. Courtney will use her for fittings since we live 2 hours apart. Then after the wedding, I'll get Bea for my own sewing fun!

Court will give more details on the process and getting the right fit. But long story short, it took about 1 1/2 hours, involved a trash bag and 1 grocery bag, a roll of paper tape, a bowl of water, and keeping the cats away. Speaking of the cats. They reeeallly liked Bea.

So it was a productive weekend. We finished the dress form and took every measurement you can imagine. We looked at fabrics to get an idea of what kind of cream color we'll want. Who knew there were so many different kinds of creams!

JoMar served us well, and we found lots of goodies. At $1-$2/yd, it was a steal. We also picked up some fabrics for Court to start work on the two Collette patterns, now that she has Bea. We got a blue lightweight shirting for the sleeveless eclair dress, and cute green and brown floral for the chantilly. These will be practice runs to check out the fitting and shape of these dressees, see if either of them will work before we add length and details. That chantilly dress looks oh so much like the vintage ebay dress from the previous post, that I LOVE. Looking forward to see how that comes out... In the meantime, Courtney is taking care of Bea, and I will miss our special bond...

Oh Heaven!

Closest to perfect I've seen yet.

Pretty, but not too modest. A vintage find from etsy|wedding. Imagine it more like ankle-length, with some of Court's detail ideas mentioned previously... Maybe more of a v neckline. But I love the sheer band, adds just enough interest while keeping it simple.

It's soooo pretty.

details...

Bex and I are getting started next weekend and I'm caught up in the fun details-

Like pleated necklines:


via: http://shoesandpie.com/2009/06/18/vintage-sewing-part-five/

And fabric flowers (in clusters, but not at the neckline):


via: http://katiedid.squarespace.com/katie-did-journal/2009/5/1/tutorial-flower-collar.html

And pretty skirts:


via: http://www.theflashdance.com/index.cfm

Hammer Pants Take Over

Totally unrelated? Or am I hinting at the not-so-subtle fact that I want to wear gold hammer pants at my wedding. And have a choreographed dance. You decide.

Really, you must watch it.

Hair Accessories

I know this blog is about the dress, but it doesn't hurt to consider hair and accessories, right? I found this back in February, and I'm pretty sure I love them all.

I love wearing hats and hair stuff. I have short curly hair, and hair accessories make me look very 20s (the time period, not just my age, though I hope I still look like I'm in my 20s...). I don't plan on having a veil, so something like this would be a perfect way to kind of fancy everything up a bit. I really love the #6 fascinator, and the whole bottom row of headbands. And the whole cage veil thing is really cute too.

Or I could always go obnoxiously over the top. In this one, I wouldn't even have to bother paying attention to my hair.

Upcycling

I've thought about 'upcycling' my mom's dress and other family heirlooms into a wedding dress, but I'd hate to cut everything up like that...  This one was done beautifully, a friend of photographer Carina Romano of Love Me Do. 

 

Flowy, filled with family and love, comfortable... So well done!  

Necklines

Court sent this to me this morning, posted from paperpony.  I love the wrap waist and the v-neck, though maybe not THAT much V.  And I love the mandarin style collar.  Take out some of the ruffles (maybe just 1 row?) and the sleeves though.  I'm a swimmer, I certainly don't need my shoulders to look wider than they are.  But a simple sleeveless style, that looks nice.  Try it, put your fingers up on the picture covering the sleeves.  Nice, right?

Swoon

I think I am in love. With a pattern maker and her patterns! Colette Patterns is a Portland, OR based business that creates beautiful patterns of dresses and skirts with a decidedly vintage influence.

Bex has shown interest in two of the patterns, either of which could be easily lengthened to create her wedding dress:

The Chantilly has beautiful folds and a gracefully swooping neckline



The Eclair is a strapless gem with a back tie and pockets!



I can't wait to add these patterns to my stash!

Petals

From this spectacular wedding, where FYI, the bride decorated her dress from Target (center, white/black dress).  I'm actually interested in the girl on the right in the pinkish flower petal dress.  Pretty?  Too obvious?  Makes for awkward arm positioning?  What do you think?

Pockets

One thing I think Bex' dress will need?

Pockets.