What we wore: Brittany's and Meghan's Weddings

On two different NYC trips, Meghan and Brittany bought fabric for later use, and what better excuse to make a dress than your sewing studio coworker's wedding? Marilyn joined in the fun and created a dress for herself for Meghan's wedding.   It was great fun knowing no one else would have the dresses we wore, and we had full control over fit and style.  

At Meghan's Catholic wedding in Raleigh, NC:

Brittany and Marilyn

At Brittany's outdoor waterfront wedding in St. Mary's County, MD:

Marilyn, Meghan, Meghan's soon-to-be husband Nick, and two of our friends who also got married that June

A closer look at Meghan's dress, which also served as her rehearsal dinner dress: 

Meghan's Wedding Dress Roundup

In September, we posted about our Moms in the Studio day. Brittany and I invited our moms to the studio to discuss our wedding dresses!  Both Brittany and I wanted to wear our moms' wedding dresses, but we both needed to do some major updating before that could happen.  As beautiful as the dresses are and were (in 1975 and 1986), we wanted to pull them into 2013!  Months of work later, our dresses are done!!  Check out the transformation of my dress:

Left to Right: Marilyn's Wedding Dress, My Mom's Wedding Dress, Brittany's Mom's Wedding Dress

Before any work has been done.  Look at those sleeves!!

For now, the sash is just a strip of fabric and a strip of trim (held by my mom hiding behind the skirt!)

 First: The Sleeves

Goodbye sleeves!  They were stitched on like any sleeve would be so they were very simple and unobtrusive to remove.

So happy the sleeves are gone!

Playing around with the sleeve length.  I knew I wanted a cap sleeve to give a little more coverage for my Catholic wedding, but the shoulders were a little to broad for me for the sleeves to remain the same.

 Next: Tackling the neckline!

Scoop neck?

V-Neck?  Decision for now: wait until mom comes to town and have her help you decide ;)

Beading Decision

After months of working on my dress and feeling that it wasn't quite right, I realized that what the dress needed was to be de-beaded.  The entire bodice was beaded with pearl beads and sequins which were very fitting for 1986, but not so much for 2013.  After struggling with my decision and talking to my mom, I bit the bullet at took all of the beads off.  (Side note #1: This picture was taken while my car was getting serviced.  Weird looks all around.) (Side note #2: That entire bag of beads is missing, guess the VW guys got a present!)

The back was easy (but time consuming) to de-bead.  The front was a different story.  Many of the beads had been glued on so I had to take all of the lace off completely.  I reused lace from the sleeves to recover the bodice.

No neckline, no sleeves, no lace!  At this point, the front piece of lace was the only one I had removed from the sleeves so if you look carefully, you can tell that the bodice is mostly bare.

What a train!

Plain lace on the back

After many hours of cutting threads and plucking beads, I had enough plain lace to cover the entire bodice!!  To make sure that the lace would lay flat on my body, I put the dress on a dress form to pull and pin the lace into place.

All of the lace sewn on except for the overlapping pieces going over the bust!  To avoid Madonna cone-boobs, I cut a slit in each lace piece going over the bust.  This way, I was able to pull each half flat over the curves.

Not all of it came out perfect though...  Do you see the oval piece on this side that's a little bubbly?  I know it's small and not that noticeable, but the perfectionist in me had to fix it.

Enter Mom :)

While the boys were out bachelor partying, my mom and I sequestered ourselves to the studio to FINISH THE DRESS!  Since all of the lace had been sewn on, all that was left was the giant decision of what to do with the neckline and the sleeves.  Many hours, a trip to Hobby Lobby, and a tired Meghan later, the dress was DONE.

I repurposed the lace that originally trimmed the sleeves to complete the neckline.  They were already cut and created the perfect scoop out of the mesh.  The trim on the sleeves is a new addition but the scalloped edge fit perfectly with the sweetheart neckline of the dress.

In a stroke of pure BRILLIANCE, my mom suggested rather than having the sash follow around my waist line, to have it start at my waist in the front but taper into the basque waist in the back.  It was the final touch that really tied the sash into the dress.

Tired Meghan!  But so happy the dress is done and beautiful :)

 Now onto the professional pictures!  A huge thank you to my photographer Autumn Harrison!!

#WhatsUpToday July

Hello friends and loved ones!  We apologize for the radio silence this past month; we've been moving!!! We've doubled our space, adding a huge costume rental and staging area, as well as a beautiful bridal and costume fitting and consultation area.  If you've been following our doings on Facebook and Twitter you've seen the slow slow transformation, but it's pretty cool to watch it all again in sequence.  And on Wednesday, October 16 from 4-8pm come join us for an open house to see our finished product! We'll be featuring door prizes, items for sale, and a tour of our gorgeous new facilities. Don't miss it, and bring your friends!

Sewing and Organizing Tips: Tuesday Tips Round II

Every week we post "Tuesday Tips" around our various social media networks.  Our first ten can be seen here.  Our next ten are as follows:

11.  If you develop a burr on your machine needle, you can file it off with the fine side of an emery board.

12.  If your machine needle gets gummed up from sewing through fusibles or glue, wipe it all down with a cotton ball soaked in isopropyl alcohol

13.  If you need a stitching guide on your throat plate, blue painters tape is a good solution - clearly visible and won't leave adhesive residue when removed

14. Sometimes a pair of pants, skirt, or dress fits perfectly but it is just too darn short with not enough hem allowance to let it down the usual way. Here's one way to help with that: Let down the old hem and press out the hem crease, serging the raw hem if necessary.

15. Another way to help let down a hem without enough seam allowance to do the usual way: Sew matching color seam lace to the edge of the fabric on the right side, then fold the seam lace under and stitch in place to create a new hem.

16. Another way to help let down a hem without enough seam allowance to do the usual way: Use matching or contrasting double bias fold tape to encase the raw edge and create a finished hem effect.

17. For buttons without shanks, place a toothpick or pin between the fabric and button. Loop thread around the pin and sew the button on normally. Once the button is on, take out the pin. There will be enough room left between the button and fabric to loop your thread around to create a thread shank.

18. When trying to get chalk or marking pen out of fabric, use only unbleached fabric. Bleach can be activated by water, so when you're rubbing at your marked fabric the bleach could soak through and ruin your fabric.

19. When trying on clothing at the store, your side seams should fall straight down the side of your body. If the seam pulls toward your bust or backside, it is too small.

20.  Keep your pins in different pin cushions (silk pins separate from quilting pins, etc.) so they don't get lost