Lace and Layers

This week's feature is a bridal gown I made earlier in the year, for a friend, Rebecca, for her wedding to her partner Ruhsen. They were married in Edinburgh gardens, with a relaxed local reception afterwards. 

Rebecca is the designer behind Silver Addict, which sells beautiful sterling silver jewellery. She also hand-makes the awesome "Necktie Necklace", which have been a popular and unique fashion item in Lissom Yarn for several years now.

Rebecca wanted a relaxed, modern dress to suit her elegant style, but one with a hint of "vintage" about it. It had to suit an outdoor ceremony, and gastro-pub reception, so a full-length style was out of the question. 

I designed three quite distinct dresses for Bec: two of which were more of a waisted, 50's-inspired line, and the last of which was the most removed from her initial descriptions: a 1930's-inspired bias-cut design with French Guipure lace and georgette. I like to give my clients a design surprise where possible, and an option that they haven't considered. Very happily, Bec chose that last design!

Wedding Gown concept design, silk and georgette with guipure lace.

This dress features a raglan-sleeved bodice in georgette with open back and contrasting sleeve detail, and a high-waisted bias-cut skirt with lace overlay.

I have to say, I did slightly regret my suggestion, some way into the construction when I was doing french seams on bias georgette which intersected at acute angles: not fun. Like herding cats, or sewing smoke. Hard. But reeeeallly pretty in the end, thank heavens.

Georgette raglan bodice with pieced, guipure lace insert, and contrasting dark grey cuff on sleeve. 

The back was totally transparent, with an open keyhole design. Time for the stick-on bra to get a work-out.

I tied the skirt and bodice together visually, by adding the lace boarder to the seam line under the bust with hand-applique.

Guipure lace detail with grey pearl buttons.

The dress was made from silk crepe de chine, with the georgette overlay, both in "Platinum". The lace was a stunning lozenge-shaped guipure from France, in ivory, bought from Tessuti.

I textured the skirt by cutting out the lower third of the lace overlay, and piecing it together again in a staggered, layered method, like overlapping leaves, to create a more hand-crafted result, and to lend a more organic look to the bottom half of the dress. It also helped break up the block of lace and brought out the extremely beautiful textures and patterns within the lace.

There were a couple of fittings where I was almost in tears from cutting up this beautiful lace, but Bec's enthusiasm and trust were amazing, and she was supremely generous with her time and very excellent decision-making!

Guipure lace overlay, over silk crepe de chine and georgette skirt, cut and pieced by hand.

And here are the happy couple on their big day, with beautiful weather and everything!

Bec accessorised her dress with a sparkling textures, both in her blue-grey shoes and her beaded head-band.

Their photos are by My Wedding Photos.

Thanks to Bec for being a gorgeous, inspiring (and patient) client, and also to both of you for sharing your photos! 

Kiss Me Kate

Kate is this week's feature bride. 

I described the design process for her dress previously,
in "How to Design Your Wedding Dress, Part 2".

Her Lissom Yarn gown is bias-cut, "Natural" silk satin, featuring a cowl back and gathered bodice, and a full train and veil. Lined in silk crepe, finished with self-covered buttons, and twist belt. 

Here are her beautiful photos...thanks to Ben Adams, who did Kate and Cam's photography on the day. 

Thanks Kate, for sharing your gorgeous photos with us!

How to design your wedding dress.

So begin the wedding dress pages!

Its been a long time coming but I will begin with my wedding dress, just to start at the start. 

Although it is a very personal project, I want to share how I came to decide on the dress that I made for my wedding, as many women seem to be overwhelmed by the sheer scope of "wedding dresses" out there. 

My first Tip is: DON'T LOOK AT WEDDING MAGS. They will clog you mind with white fluffy catastrophes of archaic wedding bad-ness. Look at dresses everywhere. Whatever you think suits you can be made into a "wedding dress". 

I chose to make my dress because I couldn't imagine wearing white, or something off the rack. 

My most significant source of inspiration was Ginger Rogers and the 1930's musicals she starred in, and all the costumes, of course.

The particular scene that I have loved since childhood, is called "Night and Day", a song written by Cole Porter. Check it out; sublime.

Her dress is a goddamn killer; I still don't really understand how it was made; perhaps that can be a life goal. 

So I simplified how I thought it was made, it and chose a colour I loved, that would go with the:

A.setting, 

B. season, and 

C. style of the wedding. 

For me, these were, in order; country/bush, spring and "vintage".

For each of these reasons, I decided that white was inappropriate. And, Boring, with a capital B. 

Consider these major points to make your dress choice appropriate and meaningful; It's great to wear a ball gown in a paddock, but you need to change it somehow to make it fit into your particular wedding setting.  

Design for Wedding Dress  © E.Christian 2009

I came up with a design that felt modern and still classic enough for me (being an old-fashioned kinda gal).

It comprised a dusky pink georgette dress with cream satin under-dress, to lighten the whole look. I wanted it to be luminous, even though it wasn't white.

I chose a t-shirt top because I like  simple lines, and replicated the layered tulle Ginger dress with layered georgette bands around the hem . 

I chose a circular construction to get the fullness, made from super-soft, drape-y fabrics, to achieve the elegant fall of the gown. 

I also factored in that the October evening reception, in the garden, would be cool, and so my mum created a chocolate and pink knitted bolero cardie. It was sublime.

This all became clear over the months of preparation for the wedding, amongst deciding things like menu, venue design, ceremony, drinks, cakes, etc etc. I luckily had the freedom to change my mind because I was making it, and left it until 2 months before the wedding to really get stuck in and make it.

Another learning curve was underwear. My Tip 2, is: Decide on the dress first, then the underwear. Seems obvious, but I had to re-engineer my layers because of the transparency of cream satin against my pink skin. I ended up making a "Franken-bra" which had a soft layer of silk attached to the underside, to act as a primary layer between me and the dress; an unattached lining. Also, if you are wearing white/cream/ivory, you MUST wear flesh-coloured undies; white will show through. Durr.

Franken-bra

The cream satin dress went over the top of Franken-bra and all the hosiery. The fabric was bought from Tessuti, and I chose a classic 1930's bias cut to create an ultra-slinky under-dress to support the georgette.

I

It has a darted "negligee" bodice that cuts right up to under the bust, to take full advantage of the drape of the bias cut skirt.

I cut the sides of the skirt very wide, almost horizontal, so the side seams are almost on the straight grain. It gives amazing fullness to the skirt whilst maintaining the slinkiness.

Dressing with my Mum

 Then we had the pink georgette dress over the top. I bought this fabric from Clegs in Melbourne (a far superior Lincraft, if you're in Victoria).

Silk Faille found in the Tessuit remnant bin.
The colour is called "Chartreuse".
Like the alcohol. 

I found the sash fabric at Tessuti, and thought it was pretty brilliant, and it just went with the dress so well; it gave it the pop it needed to make it modern.

I also added strips of the bias georgette across the shoulders and sleeves to add dimension and interest, as it was actually an incredibly plain dress, all in all. These mirrored the hem strips and pulled it all together.

Pearl reproduction Edwardian buttons, $4 a packet.

Dusky Pink wedding dress with chartreuse silk sash. 

And then we had a really big party.... and afterwards the dress was hand-washed by my mum, and turned out perfectly. 

This is why we use silk, people! 

I hope this has helped somebody out there decide on a bit of a different path to wedding-dress happiness. I had never envisaged my wedding dress before I was engaged, and I am so happy I went for a (slightly) non-traditional dress. 

Tip 3: Choose what you love and what is appropriate to your event context, and you cant go wrong! 

Next week; Summer 2011 Brides, sneak peeks!

All photos by Hanna Hosking of Hang Studio. Thanks Hanna, you were awesome. x