Linen Vests

I was so caught up in trying to finish wedding projects that I didn't really post much about what I was actually doing. In addition to sewing my own dress, I also made vests for my husband and for our friend who officiated for us.

The vests are fully lined with bemburg rayon, the outer fabric is a mid-weight 100% linen from fabric-store.com. I've ordered from them a couple of times and their fabric is just delightful. Linen isn't particularly easy to work with because it likes to try and slip off grain and it unravels with amazing speed, but it's well worth the effort, I love the feel of linen. Husband's vest is just a bare shade lighter than our officiant. I think the colorways were Asphalt and Graphite.

Retrospectively I wish I had used a lighter fabric to line Husband's vest, but there really wasn't one available to me.

And you can see how quickly linen wrinkles in these photos. I pressed everything while I was sewing then I threw them over a chair to wait until I had better lighting to take photos and in just those couple of hours they wrinkled. Husband also didn't like how the pockets were laying on his, so I sewed them shut, even though those welt pockets took longer to sew than all the rest of the vest. 

Don't the boys look handsome wearing their vests though? I was nervous beyond all belief making one for our friend. I think it's the first time I've sewed a garment for someone other than Husband or myself and Husband had a less than enthusiastic response to his the first time he saw it (because of the wrinkles) so I was terrified our friend wouldn't like his either.

All in all, I am really happy with the finished result. I think it was just what they needed to look extra dapper without being too warm (which is also why they are in linen rather than wool or a poly blend). I just think suit jackets at a summer wedding would be torture.

So, expect a couple more wedding project posts while I get caught up, and then I promise we can move on and I'll go back to just whatever random pattern catches my fancy. 

Wedding Dress Again

I am very happy to say that on Sunday July 24th I got married! I feel like I have worked on nothing but wedding projects for months now, even though I know that isn't really true because at the very least I finished two sweaters this year. Regardless, I am now feeling a bit of a project void. While I try and figure out what to do next I thought I would share my wedding dress with y'all.

I could not be happier with how my dress turned out. The skirt is one that I made ages ago but never actually wore, it's a full circle so it had great twirl. The top I drafted myself based on the same pattern pieces that I used for the corset I have on underneath, but with the addition of a sweetheart neckline. Because the skirt and top were drafted at different times I actually forgot about trying to make the side seams line up, which is part of why I added the blue sash (the other part being because it looked cute). I doubt that anyone would notice the seams without me pointing it out. 

I felt big and poofy and slightly silly but also really beautiful in my dress, my mom and my husband both came near to tears when they saw me. (This is the first time putting husband in writing, oh what a tingly rush that is). The kids at the wedding all told me I looked like a princess. 

I also made my veil. I've never tried any millinery work before, but seeing as my dress what short and blue I wanted something that made me feel slightly more bridal. I used scraps of fabric from my dress and 1/4 yd millinery netting, plus a piece of lace that I tatted and a small round piece of buckram that I bought pre-shaped. I don't know if what I did was the "right" way to make a headpiece but it worked and I loved the results. 

I started by handsewing a random scrap of my wedding dress fabric (a silk dupioni from silkbaron.com if I haven't said that yet)

Then I trimmed the edges down to match the buckram.

Next I made a short piece of bias tape and I sewed it around the edge to finish it. 

Finally I tacked the netting down then tacked the tatting over top of it by sewing down the picots. Here is a photo where you can see the lace clearly. 

And here is a photo taken by a friend of mine at the wedding. 

Wedding Dress

Guys, guys, guys! 

I finished my wedding dress!

I am not going to post a picture until after the wedding, but trust me, it's really really pretty. I am way super happy with the way it turned out and it fits perfectly. Less than one month, then I will post pictures.