Impromtu Wedding Dress!

Katrina and Duncan got married! Yayyyyy!!!! They got engaged, then 6 weeks later, decided to tie the knot in a civil ceremony at the courthouse. She was pressed to find a wedding dress quickly, and thought of me and how fast I can churn out a nice dress.

She had a dress style in mind. She wanted a fit and flare short dress (this is wedding #2 for her, so this was an opportunity to wear an alternative wedding dress), nothing too fancy, but appropriate for the occasion. At first, I copied a really casual knit dress that she had in her wardrobe that she liked the fit, and traced out a new pattern, but then as we talked about materials and what she was looking for, a commercial pattern was a better choice as I knew that there was plenty of variety of patterns to choose from to make a nice little dress. We looked through pattern books and found this New Look pattern to fit the bill perfectly:

So we went shopping, but not at a bridal shop, but the fabric store. Fabric Depot in Portland, Oregon is the best store in town for bridal and special occasion fabrics. She fell in love with this lovely embellished ruffled tulle fabric:

This fabric was perfect for the skirt! She wanted a solid top, so we found a perfectly matching off white satin to match.

The total cost of materials, including lining and a zipper, was about $30 (I had a coupon!). Awesome!!!!!

We didn’t have a lot of time to make this dress (one week actually), so I got to work immediately to make a muslin. I was done with tracing out the pattern, the cutting out and sewing the muslin within 2 hours, so the same day that we bought the fabric, I went over to her house to fit the muslin.

muslin done in 2 hours!

She is tiny on the top, so I did have to take a good amount on the bodice back and front darts of the dress, but nothing too crazy. After making the fit changes to the original pattern, I cut out the fashion materials and lining. The original pattern does not actually have a lining included with the instructions, just facings at the neckline and bias binding at the armholes, but we needed a lining for this dress. Not a problem, I know how to line a dress.

So, within 5 days, I had the dress nearly done and just wanted to fit her before I put in the zipper and hem.

cute, but something is not 100% right with the fit of the bodice

The dress looked adorable on her, although I was not really happy with how the bodice fit. It bubbled out a bit at the top of the V neckline and stuck out. I must have done something wrong with the fit changes and maybe over compensated for something without adding somewhere else.

Well, she was OK and happy with it, and we were essentially out of time to make any changes, so we went with what it was. If I had more time, I would have remade the bodice.

So here is the finished dress on my mannequin:

added a satin ribbon at the waist

Not too shabby for a quick dress custom made in less than a week!

I found this dress on Pinterest that is a similar look, Ted Baker London selling at Nordstrom for $675!:

‘Flawra’ Rosette Detail Fit & Flare Dress

She was so happy, pretty and cute in her new dress for her wedding, and splurged on a fabulous pair of blue shoes to wear! Success!!!!

Congratulations Katrina and Duncan and best wishes for a long and happy marriage!

Love, Stephanie