AWL DRESS IN WHITE

Right about the time I stopped posting on this blog I fell in love with a handsome fellow named Tyler. (Hence why I didn't have time to sew or post much). We got married in the beautiful LDS Salt Lake City Temple on June 5th of this year and it was the best day of my life!

In the process of getting ready to be married in the temple and to receive my temple endowments I have made commitments to myself and promises to my Heavenly Father to dress modestly. This makes me excited to get back to sewing so that I can dress modestly and still feel cute in my clothes!

Buuut this post is not about something I made, its actually about the sewing of my wedding dress. --Shocker all I talk about is wedding stuff but all you girls with post bride syndrome understand right? ;) Anyway I was lucky enough to get seriously the dress of my dreams! I had to have a seamstress work on it to make it work with my modesty standards. Most girls I know have to do this so this post could be boring for many but since I love sewing I found the process so interesting and I was so impressed and fascinated by her work. 

- fun fact: An Awl is a sewing tool -

I tried this dress on in a bridal shop and fell in love. The lace was perfect I loved how it fit me, the different layers of intricate lace, and the whole design of it... And the train? loved it. Alas it was a spaghetti strap dress which did not work for my standards, I needed to have it be a dress with cap sleeves. This is a common thing that happens in Utah with all of the LDS (Mormon) brides so the bridal assistant helping me assured me that their seamstresses were amazing and would make it just how I wanted it.

But my parents and I had doubts especially because wedding dresses are expensive and to have someone sew it could be risky. Also it may not turn out the way I want it or it could just be ugly haha. But of course I couldn't get it out of my mind and I had to take a chance on it, I also knew it would turn out great! 

I chose to do my dress with cap sleeves then a bell sleeve made out of just lace so it was a little see through to see the lace detail. I also chose to do a sweetheart shaped neckline in the front with a V neckline in the back. 

The seamstress went about this in a very interesting way. To make the transition from a dress without sleeves to cap sleeves look natural she took the dress apart at the seem under the bust and rebuilt the entire top half from my chest up. I had to go in for a lot of fittings. This is how it went..

Boning- First things first when she took it apart she took the boning out of the sides cause it was gaping out at my hips and I didn't like it so that rocked.

Applique- Then one of my favorite details on my dress was the twirly applique on the front tummy of the dress. But it reached up the bust seam so my seamstress, Mary, pealed that down to start then at the very end she re applied it just like new! 

Pattern making- Next Mary made a mock up or a practice version of the top out of cheap thin fabric to make sure it fit me just how I wanted it and hit me at all the right places to make sure it was modest. This was basically her pattern for the real thing. 

With my wedding dress we ordered extra fabric to make this build up possible. But it sure didn't come with much extra and it came with a lot of different laces because thats what my dress was made of. So we got to be creative but Mary had to be very careful and useful with each piece of fabric. 

Lace on the Chest- After she made the top with the white under fabric I was time to talk lace. We decided it would be cool to do the lace in the chest area with the heavy lace and filled in in each spot like the chest area was before the remodel. She hand piece very small pieces of lace to make a mirror image on the chest. She said it took her at lease 5 hours just to place the pieces on the dress on a mannequin!!

Neckline- The neckline she was able to line with a lace trim that came with the extra fabric and it worked perfect I loved the texture and the small scallops coming off the neck. Pictures don't do the details of this dress justice.

Building the Back- The back we decided we could leave a little more empty space and just put the white under fabric and the netting so it would blend in. Them she cut out just a few flower shapes from the extra lace to blend it in. I was seriously amazing the way she made the back like it was made that way and added a zipper because the original dress had a very low back. 

Bell Sleeves- The last step was the sleeves! Ive wanted bell sleeves on my wedding dress for a long time and the moment I saw this dress I thought they would be perfect with this style. I loveddd the lace my sleeves were made of it was the exact same as the bottom trim of my dress and I thought it tied it all together perfectly!

Mary did an amazing job with my dress and it made me appreciate the complexity and art of sewing so much more.

Also big huge thank you to my beautiful parents for giving me this gorgeous dress and doing so much for me to have my dream wedding. Im the luckiest!!

And now I get to show off my dress a little more.. because as you post brides out there can relate, you gotta post wedding pics any chance you get am I right? ;)

Isn't he handsome?! 

I love these two pictures facing each other :)

I loved having my cute flower girls carry my train everywhere for me!

Love you forever Ty :) Best. Day. Ever.

Dress - Alta Moda Bridal

Dress Designer - Yolan Cris

Photographer - Mikki Platt

If you care enough to read this whole post then you might like my dress enough to know this.. I am very sentimental and want to keep my dress for keepsake and for my future family so I will never resell it. But I am considering renting it out just once to earn a little money back from it. I will not allow any alterations so you must be about my size- Im 5'10" and I wore heels so it's pretty long. Let me know if you are interested. thx oxxoox