blue wedding dress not wedding dress blues!!!

Great job Sharon! The Dior roses at the neckline are perfect, they dress it up nicely without being too fussy. The bride should be able to wear that pretty dress often.

Don't we all love it when a customer/ friend is pleased with our sewing!!! Barbara in SC

Just what we ALL want to hear! :)

She looks great. Love the little roses! And the colour is really nice.

Gorgeous, Sharon! If I ever re-marry, I will hire you to make my gown. Of coourse, I've been divorced some 47-years and at my age, there is little chance of that happening. LOL.

I don't say that to Kate because of the distance; she is too far away.

Emily

I can guarantee it wouldn't be *quite* as bad as an ebay deal from China! ;)

she looks beautiful in it!!! What patterns/material did you use?

Please wish the bride many years of happiness!

betsey

LOL You just let me know, Emily!!! I'll borrow DH's car and be there in a jiffy. ;)

This gal and her husband to be went to high school together. Then they lost touch after graduation. They both went on to marry other people and have children. Now, they are both single again (the bride is a widow, not sure about the groom.) She was goofing on the computer with her granddaughter in April. Just happened to find him when she was searching for old pals, etc. 55 year gap since they had seen each other last. ;)

Sharon

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Thank you, Beverly and thanks for the link to the rose tutorial. I had made rosettes like this before, but slightly different method. The method I had used before is kind of a PITA. You cut a circle and cut that into a spiral strip. Then you fold in half then finally roll, tuck and fold the roses. This way was much easier.

I had made about 10 of them all together. I gave her the extras for her scrapbook. ;)

Sharon

Absolutely. She was so much fun to work with and for. I really wanted her to be happy with the dress, so it was extra nifty that she liked it so well. :)

Sharon

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Thanks, Kate. :) The roses were so much fun to do, they may start popping up all over the place. lol My fingers like to have something to do when I sit down to watch a movie or something.

I really liked that color on her a lot. It's such a happy color and it really suits her.

Sharon

Very pretty and very appropriate for aa mature bride. Love the roses. I think I'll make some for some project. Juno

Thank you very much. :)

It's Kwik Sew 2473, mostly. I split the difference between the long version and the short version. The long would have been dragging the floor and the short was way too short for this bride. Also, I did a flutter sleeve rather than any of the sleeve options in the pattern. (I just swiped one from another pattern in my stash. It measured out fine when I compared it to the sleeve in the KS pattern.)

The fabric is a rayon challis. (Hancock's.) The bodice is self lined but I did put an underlining "facing" of silk organza at the neckline. Rayon challis can "grow" over time, especially at the neckline, if you don't stabilize it really well. So I drafted off, basically, a facing. About 2" deep. I stitched that to the wrong side of the bodice neckline before I put in the lining. I wanted it that wide so it would support the neckline and also the roses. I knew the neck would fly all over the place with the weight of the roses without something in there. When I handstitched the roses in place, I flipped the lining up out of the way (it was attached and understitched before I put the roses on) so I could make sure I was hitting the organza as well. Too, I didn't want the stitching holding the roses on to show on the lining. This way, I could hide them. :)

Not bad for a quick project. ;) This was, as Kate would say, FTL sewing all the way! We had 4 weeks till the wedding when they came to me. A little less than that by the time we had fabric and all found and purchased. Then try to work in fittings with their crazed schedule and mine.... Well, I think my pal and I are going to get together for drinks next week (the wedding is Sunday.) lol

Sharon

You're welcome. I was making roses like that long before I learned they were "Dior" roses. ;-) The spares could also trim a picture frame/

I like that sleeve very much, very flattering for a mature lady, and they added some whimsical style without being "cute".

Well done!

Thank you very much. That's exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to give the dress a little bit of fun, and still keep it on the dignified side. ;) I knew I was on to something when I showed her different options and she about bounced out of her chair over that type of sleeve. It was easy to tell when she liked something. :)

Thanks again. :)

Sharon

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Thank you so much. :)

There's a post here somewhere with details, but it's mostly Kwik Sew 2473. I changed the skirt length (between the two options in the pattern.) And I changed the sleeve. They give you sleeveless, and straight sleeves in either short or long for options. Well, I pulled a flutter sleeve piece out of another pattern and laid it on top of the KS pattern sleeve. That worked. And then of course the roses were an addition too. :)

You know how that goes. I pretty much always use the commercial pattern as just a jumping off point. I rarely build them exactly how the pattern says. I colored outside the lines as a child too. lol

Sharon

Oh, yeah. Patterns and recipes -- some people are enslaved to them as if they were straitjackets, but for me they are exactly springboards.

I did see the post with the pattern number. Sadly, it doesn't come in my size, but I can sure save the pic and look for something similar. Thanks!

Samantha, That pattern shouldn't be very difficult to alter. After trying many methods I found that Palmer and Pletch "Fit for Real People" works the best for me. I see the also have a DVD for Full busted people which I'll be ordering ,to give me even more help with alterations. I never can find a pattern that's my size because no two measurements of mine fall in the same size range I used their book for fitting pants and got the best fitting jeans style pants I've had in years. take a look at their web site. Juno