Loula’s Pewter and White Dress Gets Fitting-Ready
The blue is out and the white is in! It was pretty much unanimous that the Silver Swirl fabric looked excellent with the white overlay and so-so with the blue overlay. Loula and I decided to use the blue tulle as petticoats for a fun flash of color! We both loved the way that the […]
Working with Loula’s fabrics
Once Loula’s bustier was finished, it was finally time to start working on The Dress! I took Loula’s mockup apart and used the muslin as underlining. I’ve written a few posts on underlining so, even though it is one of my favorite techniques, I won’t write about it much in this post. I know you […]
Finishing Loula’s bustier!
After our fitting, I was able to take Loula’s bustier apart in order to put it back together permanently and with better materials. During the fitting, I was able to determine exactly where we wanted the seams, bones, cups, and closures. In the photo above, you can see me pinning the boning tape in place. […]
Fabric Shopping with Loula
Loula and I visited two fabric stores while she was in town for her first fitting. Usually the first fabric shopping trip comes a little earlier in the process when we are still working out the design of the dress. Since Loula is from out of state, this was actually our first time really diving […]
Loula’s Mockup Fitting
Back in June, my best friend Loula flew from her home in New Orleans to my studio in Hillsborough (NC) for the first fitting for her custom wedding dress. We had done some mockup fittings of her undergarment via the mail, so she was trying on the basted version of the real understructure for the […]
Loula’s Mockup
The mockup for Loula’s custom wedding dress was fairly easy to create because I had already put so much work into properly fitting her custom undergarment. I merely had to make a few adjustments to the bustier pattern to make a new pattern for the dress bodice which also made the creation of the skirt […]
Birth of a Bustier
My best friend Loula’s custom wedding dress was to be a form fitting evening gown with a corset back. Though the dress would have straps, I wanted it to fit as if it were strapless and have the necessary structure inside to make the corset-laced closure work perfectly. I used some techniques I learned back […]
First Fittings by Mail
Loula lives in New Orleans and I live in North Carolina, and since she is my best friend, I tried some new ways to handle long-distance fittings for her custom wedding dress. I started out creating a basic no-design draft of Loula’s measurements, whipping it up in muslin with a big zipper up the back, […]
The Loulage
In creating a wedding dress for someone I have known and loved for decades, I got to experiment with some things that I wouldn’t normally try on a regular client. I really took this opportunity to hone my skills and try new things, knowing that Loula already completely trusted me to make her look gorgeous […]