A Brooklyn Wedding

Yesterday was the long-awaited wedding of my dear friend. (I might have mentioned once or twice that I was making a reception dress for her.) From start to finish, it was a lovely day.

Here I am waiting for the train, dress in tow. I had planned on wearing my red satin sheath, but I chickened out and ended up buying a new, more casual dress at the last minute. I realized I might feel a bit self-conscious wearing red satin in the afternoon. (Do you notice that I'm wearing a full skirt that hits well above my knees, a style that I railed about just a couple days ago? I'm such a hypocrite!)

The flower girls (the bride's fabulous nieces) performed their duties with aplomb. The pianist was playing "The Rainbow Connection," and I got a little choked up.

Luckily, I recovered in time to do my reading of Sonnet 116 during the ceremony.

The lighting of the unity candle. Here's my friend in her formal ceremony gown. Doesn't she look lovely? Her veil had little sparkly bits that glimmered in the candlelight.

After the ceremony, we had some time to kill. Luckily, the Brooklyn Arts Festival was happening under the bridge, so my husband and I meandered about for a while. There was a couple walking around in knitted camouflage full bodysuits. Artsy, huh?


I thought my date looked quite handsome.

It was a chilly day, so I cozied up in a wrap. Did you know that I wear spectacles? I always try to avoid having them on in pictures, but that gets a little tiresome after a while.

After dinner, the bride was ready to slip into something more comfortable.

Ta-da!

(You'll notice that her niece also slipped into something more comfortable, which included jammies, a binky, and her froggy.)

And here I am, next to my muse.

What a day! I just love weddings, don't you?

P.S. As for the dress I bought, I loved the fit and look of it - especially the really cool corset detailing, including laces up the back. But I wasn't happy with the quality. The boning (which was rigilene) tore out of the fabric - at the top of the bodice on one side, and on the bottom on the other side. This meant I had boning sticking me in my right breast and left hip, simultaneously. This was quite uncomfortable, as you can imagine. I've made my own dresses with rigilene boning before and have never had this problem. You can bet I'll be writing a complaint letter to Anthropologie!

Here Comes the Bride . . . in Velvet-Flocked Tulle!

Hurrah! I'm finally realizing my dream to use some of the amazing tulle flocked with velvet polka dots that B&J sells. (You might remember it in electric blue from this post.) And the reason is a very happy one. My dear friend Kristin asked me to make her a party dress for her wedding reception. What an honor! The wedding is in two weeks, so I need to get sewing.

Kristin wanted a short, strapless party dress that was 50's inspired and said "kicky and flirty." It also has to go with hot pink satin flats. What could be more fun? The pattern we decided on is Simplicity 2959, which at first glance, is a terror.

Jut look at that shiny turquoise mess!


But let's just zoom in a bit to the short variations, shall we? (Ignore the renegade bride at their feet.)

Aren't they charming?

So here's the plan: I'll be doing view C, with the body of the dress in a white cotton sateen ($6 a yard at AK Fabrics!), and the wrap at the bust will be in the flocked tulle.

I'll line in rayon bemberg, which will have a couple layers of tulle at the bottom for pouf, and I'm making an inner corselet with boning out of white cotton broadcloth, per the instructions in Susan Khalje's article in the latest Threads magazine ("Hidden Support," issue #145). Here's a tiny pic of this fantastic how-to:


I imagine I'll also be borrowing a lot of tips from "Sewing White Fabric" (Threads issue #106), as I'm a little terrified of getting this pristine fabric all grubby.

More to come!