Weddingbee

Over the past year and a half I have been able to lend my sewing skills to a few brides that I am very close to. One bride in particular was Miss K, who had a beautiful outdoor wedding last September.

The veil:

Miss K wanted a simple tulle veil, which I was happy to make for her! A tutorial will be coming soon! Here’s the view from the front:

The veil from the back (It was a bit windy!):

A fun action shot from the reception:

Here is one of my favorite pictures of Miss K getting ready, just for fun! Lila is the cutest pooch I have ever seen. She walked down the aisle with the ring bearer during the ceremony.

Ok, ok, back to the sewing. A few days before the wedding, Miss K called and was very upset. She had gone to pick up her dress and it had a nasty surprise… the seamstress had taken extra beading off of the train and placed it in the front center of the bodice, like Miss K wanted, but it was lopsided. I went to her mother’s house that night and did some wedding gown surgery—I removed all of the beading, and sewed it back on so that it was completely straight. I don’t think that we have any ‘before’ pictures, but here is the ‘after’:

A very relieved bride! I was so glad that I was able to help. If any of you are interested in having something on hand in case of a beading emergency, make sure that you have a beading needle (very long and thin), and most importantly, a threader! The beading needles are so thin, it is near impossible to thread without aid. You can use normal sewing thread in case of a beading emergency, but the opening for most beads or crystals are too small to go over a standard sewing needle.

Next on my sewing list for Miss K’s wedding was making a dress for myself, and a tie for Mr. Taffy!

My dress:

It took me quite a while to draft the patterns for this dress, but I am really pleased with the result! I actually made this dress out of a cotton sateen bed sheet! I fell in love with the color, and it was less expensive to buy this flat sheet (it was from a sold separately collection) than to go to the fabric store. Also, it is kind of hard to come by high quality cotton fabric in the Detroit area. If you need any white or colored cotton fabric for any DIY projects, never rule out using sheets! Buy a cotton/poly blend if you are concerned about wrinkles. Muslin works great for projects too, but if you need a high quality thread count, you can get about the same amount of cotton per yard by buying a flat sheet. Bed Bath and Beyond has great coupons and a big selection of sold-separately flat sheets.

Mr. T’s tie:

This was my first attempt at making a tie. I was planning on using the same fabric of the dress, but I used up almost every inch (darn those pleats!). Luckily I was able to find a matching silk dupioni at Haberman’s in Royal Oak. The tie took a really long time to make, as it was all hand sewn. I’m not sure if I’m going to be making any more of those anytime soon!!!

Here’s a closer look at the tie:

It matches Mr. Taffy’s beautiful eyes!

All images by Jerome Burns, except the tie close-up (hand held by yours truly!).

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