Verity Vintage Studio

The Verity Vintage Wedding Dress, Part Three - The Finishing Touches

After various delays, here's the final installment chronicling the adventure of making my wedding dress! (Read part one and part two.)

 

I toyed with the idea of draping the skirt somehow, over an underskirt of the lace, but couldn't come up with anything that looked right - and I liked how it looked with the lace jacket and simple, elegant satin skirt. So I set the draping idea aside. But I wanted a way to tie the satin from the skirt onto the jacket, in a way that would also outline the faux bolero look of the jacket. 

Flowers were a good solution.

 

I made them in several different sizes - they were very easy, too. I made a basic yo-yo similar to the ones used for these shoe clips, starting with different sizes of circles. Once gathered, instead of letting them round, I bound them into petals - some with 4, and some with 5 - and sewed the centers full of small glass pearl beads.

So I made a bunch and began to play with them, pinning them to the mannequin.

Keep it simple? Three on each side?

 

How about continuing them in a single line all the way around the neck? I do like this look and maybe will implement it in a later project.

 

I could do an asymmetrical look like a corsage on one side...

 

...or do smaller matching corsages on each side, following the curve of the neckline.

 

That last option I decided was my favorite, so I went with that one, pinning them to overlap and then tacking them down. I soon decided that I wanted to tie in the pearls in the flowers by using pearls around the flowers - also softening the embellishment. So out came the pins again and I pinned individual pearls randomly around the embellishments and neckline.

 

It added a nice touch, though the pearls were tricky to sew in place without pulling the rest of the pins out! Everything coordinated beautifully, even though I was working with several shades of white.

 

All finished! All that was left was to press the skirt and cover the dress up to keep it dust free for the big day.

 

What a project! Certainly my most ambitious to date. It took a long time and was a lot of work, but I think it was worthwhile. And I don't think it turned out too homemade looking, which was my hope.

 

I love that now I have a true heirloom to pass on to my children. Maybe someday a daughter of mine will wear the dress, or the wreath and veil!

Walking Through the Wedding

After various delays, finally here are the proper photos from my wedding day! The snapshots I put up shortly after the wedding only captured a few glimpses of the day. Time to share all about the event, which is certainly one of the biggest days in my life. :-)

The sun came out bright and clear, after a torrent of rain the night before. Everything was soaked, but we'd still been able to do some of the setup the night before.

 

After working madly for hours wiping things off, setting the tables, bringing out the decorations, doing first aid on the bouquets, and food prep - the time drew close enough that it was time to start getting ready.

 

We may or may not have done some peeking out at the guests...

 

All sorts of pretty details were in readiness.

 

Being helped into my wedding dress. All those tiny buttons took a while to button up!

 

Mama helped me put on the Bride Pearls, and my veil...then I looked in the mirror and lo and behold, I was a bride!

 

Meanwhile in another part of the house, the guys were getting ready.

 

By this time guests were constantly arriving, and things were busy outside.

 

My talented bridesmaid Mikaela played such a beautiful prelude on my sister's harp.

 

We're almost ready to start! Everyone's waiting - the flower girl...

 

....the groomsmen...

 

...and the groom!

 

(I'm upstairs pretty impressed by the fact that I'm not really nervous, and enjoying the harp music!)

Time to seat the families...

 

After seating his mother, Dustin joined the pastor up front. It's time!

 

The bridesmaids descended to Canon in D played by the brass group.

 

Now everyone's waiting on me. And I'm just realizing that I must be a little nervous after all because my knees are trembling as I'm ready to start down the steps.

 

I joined my father at the bottom of the steps and he escorted me to the front where he transferred his authority to Dustin.

 

The bridal party then was seated, for a short opening message on the glory of marriage.

 

One amusing thing that happened was that flies and bees were very interested in our bouquets. I was protected by my veil like a mosquito netting and the other girls were envious! :-)

 

My father gave the main sermon, addressing part to Dustin and part to myself, detailing our responsibilities and roles toward each other and before God. Then he called up the bridal party for the exchange of vows.

 

I thought I would cry, but somehow I didn't. Now it was time to exchange rings.

 

And we were pronounced Man and Wife, in a blessed, eternal, and life-changing bond.

The kiss!

 

After that, there was a short blessing and benediction, then we were presented as Mr. and Mrs. Dustin Clay, and retired to the strains of Mendelssohn, which is the recessional I'd wanted ever since the time years ago when I first saw It's a Wonderful Life.

 

The receiving line.

 

Meanwhile the guests not in line visited and mingled, and the bridal party and families stayed close by for photos to follow.

 

Hey look! We're wearing wedding rings!

 

My sisters took turns manning the guest book.

 

Once everyone was through the receiving line, it was time for formal photos, which we kept as short as possible because the reception was waiting. 

With our parents...

 

With our families...

 

With the bridal party...

 

And of course, with each other!

 

The fall colors were so beautiful, and the yard had so many pretty spots.

 

It's going to be a real trial choosing which ones to frame!

 

Photos over, we headed back to the upper lawn to be presented and seated at the bridal table.

 

My brother (dapper, isn't he?) was the emcee, and he also had put together a playlist of fun favorite love songs of all types, from country to vintage big band, to play while we ate and visited.

 

Our servers were very capable and kept bringing us plates of yummy things!

 

We cut the cake, and Mama brought us the top tier to keep in the freezer for our first anniversary.

 

Things were winding down. We visited and hugged folks and signed the marriage certificate; one of my sisters collected my things from the house and put them in the getaway car, where we took more photos (shown in the earlier post)...

Then it was time to try not to cry as I hugged my family and mother goodbye. This time I was truly not nervous - just at peace - when I left, alone with my new husband...our whole lives ahead of us.

 

More than two months later, we're still on our honeymoon...and I'm still the most blessed bride in the world!

Dustin is the most considerate and kindest of husbands, and so perfect for me. I can never thank God enough for bringing us together in such a marvelous way.

 

Amen.

The Verity Vintage Wedding Dress, Part Two - The Creation

In Part One I talked about the search for the perfect fabric for my wedding dress, and the evolution of pattern ideas until a final direction was decided on. 

With all the pieces together, it was time to take a deep breath and...start cutting. 

 

I took my muslin pieces for the bodice and arranged them on the lace. Since it was expensive, I wanted to waste as little fabric as possible.

 

The sleeve I took extra care with, wanting the sleeve edge to be on the decorative edge of the fabric - and so that the finished French seam would end on a long point.

 

Those lace pieces then got cut out of the satin, for an underlining, and basted together by hand. Incidentally, using pink thread for the hand basting was not such a great idea, especially because it could get caught between the layers but still seen through the lace. I spent a lot of time picking tiny hot pink threads out of the lace. Next time white would be best! :-)

However, hand basting those layers together so that they could be sewn as one layer was mandatory!

 

The skirt was a headache to cut out...it was so huge. Neither the skirt pattern piece, or the fabric, would fit on the table, so I had to do it in sections. I opened the satin and cut it flat, which added to the hassle. I spent a long time cutting out those two pieces, but finally had it done.

All that remained was to cut a skirt band, and the lining pieces for the bodice. I only lined the front and back, and used some white cotton from the stash to cut those pieces.

With everything together and the bodice basted, I could start sewing and pretend it was just another dress, to calm my nerves! Darts, side and shoulder seams, press the seam allowance open and carefully tack them to the underlining...

A seamstress friend had suggested I might need to use boning to keep the points laying smoothly, but the lace was stiff enough, and the seams hefty enough, that I didn't have a problem with it. The darts were quite rigid as it was.

The bodice put together, pre lining and sleeves.

 

I had a few bumps here and there. The sleeves were too wide, so I ended up taking them in, but you could see the bigger seam through the lace. I ended up trimming it with the scissors, and binding it by hand with thread to finish the edge, up to where it joined the original French seam. Not terribly professional, but it wasn't noticeable, so I call it a success. 

 

The arm openings were too big as well. They looked like they were trying to be dolman sleeves. Don't know how that happened. So I cut a circle of the underlining satin, folded it in half, and tacked it to the underside of the arm opening. It actually could come in handy as a sweat guard since it is easily replaceable. 

 

And...I remembered why I don't like lining things. After fiddling with the lining, and including the elastic loops in the front seam, I still had to take a tuck in it horizontally in order to keep it from bagging or showing around the bottom edge. Maybe sometime I'll learn how to line things properly. Again...it worked, and that was the important thing.

I covered small buttons with satin scraps for the front bodice opening, but they ended up too big, so I had to purchase a smaller, pre-covered size and replace the buttons. I also made a rectangle of satin fabric and tacked it to the inside of the lining on one side, as a modesty panel under the button loops.

 

The skirt was a simple matter of two seams, an interfaced waistband, and a short invisible zipper. Of course I didn't get the zipper quite even, so I had to hide that with the overlapping waistband. I also accidentally made it a bit too tight - but by the wedding I must have lost a few more pounds because it fit just fine! :-)

I left it hang to make sure the seams didn't pull, then had a long trimming job making it even. Thankfully I had some help. My mother used pins and my vintage hem ruler, and I spent a long time standing and slowly rotating on the piano bench while she marked the skirt.

 

I had to put some thought into hemming a circle skirt in the least noticeable way possible. I ended up going with bias tape, which once it was pressed, laid smoothly all the way around. I tacked it down by hand using only one strand of thread and catching only two threads of the satin per stitch. It took forever to go around that skirt hem!

 

So now the major pieces were finished, it was time for the fun part - playing with the embellishments! But I'll save that for the next and final installment.

The Verity Vintage Wedding Dress, Part One – Ideas and Fabric

 

When it came to planning a wedding, I did not have the details worked out months in advance like many girls do. When I suddenly realized I realled needed to seriously start thinking about this, I realized I had put very little thought into what exactly I wanted, and that also included the wedding dress. My taste and style has evolved a lot over the years, so what I would have dreamed of as a perfect dress when I was 16 would look totally different now anyway.

But thankfully I have done enough sewing over the past few years that I felt comfortable (in theory, anyway!) tackling sewing my own dress – and more than that, I'd tried enough patterns of various styles that I had narrowed down what I like to wear and looks good on me.

And that of course, would be vintage style of some variety!

 

Pinterest probably noticed a surge in searching for vintage wedding dresses, with my accession of interest on the subject. I quickly decided on an inspiration photo for the bridesmaid dresses, of an extant 1950s dress. But my wedding dress ideas underwent a bit of evolution, though right away I was drawn to 1950s styles like this lovely image.

 

The full-skirted long gowns of the 1950s are not my first style preference normally for myself, but when it came to a wedding dress, I did at least know I wanted a 2 piece dress, and it just wouldn't seem like a wedding dress without one of those elegantly long and full skirts.

I've made the jacket from Butterick 8890 before, and decided that would be a good fit for the bodice of the wedding dress. ¾ sleeves look nice on me, and also with an outdoor fall wedding, seemed like a good idea, just to be safe, since I had no idea what the weather would be like. The short, nipped jacket is again a style that I like on myself, and it has some nice style lines with the point in the back and the faux bolero folding at the neck. So I didn't look any further for a wedding dress bodice.

 

The skirt, on the other hand, was another story... I started out really liking the skirt in this photo, but when discussing the mechanics of making it with some seamstress friends of mine, I realized eventually it was too ambitious a project for me to tackle without a pattern of any sort. I still think it's such a gorgeous skirt, though! Ginger Rogers or Grace Kelly formal style, right there!

 

But I still liked the drape idea, so the next option I thought of was to make a basic circle skirt and try draping it different ways. With that in mind, I went with McCall's 8960. I have several circle skirt patterns, but this one had the benefit of being only two pieces, with no gores. I didn't want any more seams than necessary. Also, it was a full circle without any of the fullness in pleats or gathers at the waist. I made a trial version first (which remains unhemmed in my UFO pile...) to check length and fit. I ended up lengthening it more in able to hem it, and taking out some of the circle, so it didn't fall in quite so many folds around the hips.

 

I could use the skirt pieces basically as they were, with a bit of tweaking, but the jacket required more work. I wanted it to just meet in the center so I could close it with tiny buttons, instead of overlapping – and the pattern was also a size too large for me. So I had to do quite a bit of work with a muslin, basting and trimming and rebasting, until I was happy with how it fit. Probably the muslin pieces don't resemble the original pattern pieces too much anymore! :-)

But now I had numbers finalized when it came to how much fabric was needed. I had originally thought of a combo of satin and lace – but only if the satin wouldn't be cheap looking and super shiny, and only if the lace was decent quality. Hard to tell online, and JoAnn didn't have what I wanted. Thankfully there is one small but lovely, high-quality fabric shop in Boise called CLOTH, so I checked there, with my fingers crossed. Sure enough, they had a small bridal lace selection, and this one jumped out at me right away as the one most suitable for my needs. Also the least expensive, though still by far the most I've ever paid per yard for fabric – easily worth it for the main expense of a wedding dress, though. So I happily took a few yards home.

Isn't it pretty? The little flowers look embroidered, and the decorative edge is the perfect finishing touch. I instantly had an idea to incorporate it and save myself some sleeve finishing time.

 

While I was there, I got to finger some of the different kinds of satin. I haven't done much sewing with formal fabrics, so I didn't know what to look for. I left with an idea of what I wanted for the skirt, and ended up buying a length of it on eBay. It IS polyester, but a very nice feel, with a low luster satin on one side and a silk dupioni look-alike on the other. Which meant that, if I wanted to, I could use either or both sides in making a skirt and/or accents.

 

(The satin was slightly more off-white than the lace, but I decided that if I underlined the lace with the satin, that would tie the whites together well enough that it wouldn't be an issue.)

 

So now with the patterns finalized and the fabric on hand, it was time to plunge into the slightly nerve-wracking, no-turning-back moment when the scissors actually cut into the fabric. But we'll save that for Part Two!

 

 

Glimpses From Our Wedding Day

And now...wedding pictures!

 

I don't have the photographer's images back yet, and won't for several weeks. When I get them I'm hoping to walk you through the day in more detail (including some behind the scenes photos), but because I can't wait, I'm going to go ahead and share some of the beautiful images captured by my talented brother.

 

This picture doesn't show the puddles from a rain and wind storm the night before...or indicate the pile of towels we soaked with icy water while wiping everything off! But at least it didn't rain that day, and the clouds lifting off the mountain made a beautiful, ever changing backdrop.

 

 

My grandma made the cake, and I helped her decorate it. After helping her decorate cakes for several of my cousins, it felt so strange to be working on mine! As always, it turned out gorgeous and scrumptious.

 

The vintage topper came from Etsy.

 

As did the Scripture sign, and the Idaho wedding favors, among other things.

 

My beautiful bridesmaids, in dresses they made, inspired by this Pinterest picture which I used to find a similar 1950s dress pattern. My sister (standing to my left) drafted the cowl and sash herself and was endlessly helpful with details.

 

Simply the cutest flower girl...ever!!! 

(She wanted her hair put in "curlies" like "Aunt Kristen"!)

 

A few more yet...

 

It was such a lovely day. And after all that planning and work, it went by so quickly. As expected, there were a few minor glitches, but the most important thing took place - which was that I ended up married to my Sweetheart! :-)

(After two weeks of marriage, I can definitely say I'm one exceedingly blessed woman!)

 

Dress details to come, over the next few weeks!

 

And a farewell, happy and tired, just before the new Clays drove away in the convertible.

 

God. Is. Good.

Snapshots of Wedding Preparations

The past few weeks have been super busy, but also good and not too stressful. And I feel like a lot has been accomplished on the wedding-preparation front. Among other things, we have a venue, did a bunch of shopping, and completed the table decorations. Gift registries are being compiled - that's a fun thing to do. Two bridesmaid dresses are all but finished. I made my dress muslin and bought one kind of fabric for my wedding dress (no sneak peeks of that here, though, probably...:-) and ordered the rest of what I need, so as soon as that arrives I can get started on the final version. I'm hoping to have plenty of time to work on it so I can enjoy the process. Myriads of details to be thought of and attended to - so many lists to be made and crossed out! 

Just a few of the small things...

Touching up my wedding shoes with blue...just because!

 

The foundation of a wedding dress - the All Important Muslin! I am using an existing 1950s pattern but altered the bodice in both fit and style, so I did a lot of basting and trimming on the bodice muslin. Once I got it how I wanted it, I just ripped out the basting threads and will use these pieces as the pattern pieces.

 

And these dainty confections arrived recently. They are a few of the flowers I will use for my bridal wreath and corsages for various folks. They are so pretty and cheery and vintage-y - just what I was hoping for! (I'm hoping to have time to take some step-by-step photos of some of my wedding projects so that after the wedding I can put up some tutorials.)

 

Color makes me h.a.p.p.y.

 

Of course, planning a day to be married to my Sweetheart makes me even h.a.p.p.i.e.r.

:-)

And Suddenly...

...Life changes.

Maybe you've noticed my blogging has become erratic. Suddenly. Well, there was a reason! Suddenly.

That reason was a red-headed young man who came into my life in April and never will leave it, Lord willing. 

 

On July 29, I promised to become Mrs. Dustin Clay. 

 

We are planning a 1950s style October wedding, and are in the throes of early wedding planning.

 

What this means for the blog? I may be able to give you sneak peeks at my various wedding-related projects throughout the next few months, but due to a Certain Upcoming Event and a million things to do, as well as all the normal upheaval of this totally life-changing time, blog posts may continue to be erratic for a while. :-)

 

(I did get this 1950s dress finished in time to wear it for our engagement photos, though! It's the same pattern as this one, in a summery version without a contrasting yoke.)

 

My beautiful, beautiful ring. It's vintage style...he must know me pretty well. :-)

 

God is so good, and has blessed us in too many ways to count - and continues to do so, even in small things. He cares even about the details and dreams in our lives, and I am continually overwhelmed by His kindness toward me.

 

Most of all these blessings, more wonderful than even my girlish hopes and dreams of a future husband...Dustin.

Life will be too short to spend it with him.