My 26th Sew-iversary! Pt 3: Entrepreneur
Welcome back! Let’s pick up my sewing story 15 years ago at my own March 2008 wedding, which is where we left off in Pt. 2 Employment. In my free time, I had designed and made my own wedding dress (after doing similar for my sisters-in-law Katie and Melissa) while I was employed as a woodworker, making super-fancy museum-quality custom picture frames. Otherwise, I had mostly quit sewing after an extensive costuming career. But sewing wouldn’t stay away for long.
My Previous Bridalwear Series:
Tiffany!
Tiffany’s Wedding Day!
Three Region Photography It’s finally time to share about Tiffany’s wedding day!!! Yay!!! Tiffany and Kemp were married in December 2018 in the cutest little…
- Brides ·
- Photo Shoots ·
Tiffany’s Photoshoot and Delivery Day!
As we are nearing the end of the bridal blog series following the creation of Tiffany’s custom wedding dress, I am really feeling the anticipation…
- Brides ·
- Construction ·
Finishing Tiffany’s Wedding Dress
After the basted fitting, it was all about finishing. Anything temporary would now become permanently secured and all the gorgeous inner sewing guts would be…
- Brides ·
- Construction ·
Tiffany’s Basted Fitting + Prep & Corrections
If you’ve been following along as I tell the story of how Tiffany’s wedding dress came to be, you’ll know that we are nearing the…
- Brides ·
- Construction ·
Constructing Tiffany’s Wedding Dress: Collar & Neckline
The most dramatic elements of Tiffany’s custom wedding dress design are the gorgeous collar and neckline. Once the shoulder seams and cut-in-one sleeves were finished,…
- Brides ·
- Construction ·
Constructing Tiffany’s Wedding Dress: Cut-in-One-Sleeves
The blog is back! The newsletter is back! The Skirt Skills Freeview is back! There’s a bazillion reasons why I’ve been offline since my dog died on the first day…
- Brides ·
- Construction ·
Constructing Tiffany’s Wedding Dress: Skirt & Midriff
After our 2nd mockup fitting, it was finally time to get started making the custom dress that Tiffany would wear on her wedding day! Having…
Déjà Vu: Tiffany’s Mockup Dress #2!
After Tiffany’s first mockup fitting, I was ready to use the edited patterns and original polyester mockup dress to create a second mockup dress for…
Tiffany’s First Mockup Fitting (and Pattern Corrections)!
The very first fitting is always a fun part of the custom process. The dress the bride tries on in a first fitting is not…
Making Tiffany’s First Mockup
After the first drafts of Tiffany’s custom patterns were created, it was time to test my experiments by making a ‘test dress’ using inexpensive materials. This…
Draping and Drafting Tiffany’s Custom Wedding Dress Patterns
After turning my new tiny dress form into a replica of my bride, it was time to create the custom-fit patterns for Tiffany’s future wedding…
A Custom Tool for Tiffany: Creating her Petite Body-Double Dress Form
In my previous post, I introduced a new custom bride named Tiffany to the blog! I also shared about our design process and how I…
- All the Brides ·
- Brides ·
New Bridal Blog Series: Tiffany!
The bridal blog series is back! In each bridal blog series, you meet a new bride and I slowly post-by-post recount the process and share…
Tutorial posts
Padding a Dress Form As Your Body Double: A Condensed Guide
This post originally appeared as part of By Hand London’s Creators Collaborative series. An extended guide is available as an eBook titled “Figure It Out”. Hi…
How to Choose and Use a Thimble
There are many great pleasures in my life and sewing practice that I originally resisted. I would never have learned to sew at all if…
Two Myths of Learning To Make Your Own Sewing Patterns
Before becoming a custom wedding dressmaker, I had an unusual introduction to sewing which took me from absolute beginner to sewing professionally for Broadway in only 5…
DIY Professional Ironing Table
I’ve been blogging at BrooksAnn.com for a little over 6 years now. While most of my posts are following the story of a bride and…
Small Sewing Space Solution: Portable Ironing/Cutting Table
As women begin to take online courses with me, we often talk about solutions for working in small home sewing spaces. While it’s fantastic if you have…
Sewing Technique Spotlight: Underlining (pt. 3)
Today’s post is the 3rd in a short series on underlining! I get a lot of questions about underlining, so I finally decided to start…
Sewing Technique Spotlight: Underlining (pt. 2)
In part 1 of this blog series, I shared what the sewing technique called underlining is, what underlining does, and I even offered some fabric…
Sewing Technique Spotlight: Underlining (pt.1)
Have you ever wondered if there is an easy way to make your handmade garments look professional instead of home-made? A sewing technique called underlining…
DIY Professional Sewing Room Table
Last week, I sent an email to those on my free newsletter subscription list featuring a clever solution for making a small sewing space feel like a…
POPULAR POSTS
I Made Myself the Coolest Dress pt. 1 – Pattern Design & Mockup
Though my personal wardrobe is mostly “the dressmaker has no clothes”, when I do make something for myself, it’s usually an epic project. I’m so…
My 10 Year Blogiversary! (pt. 2)
I’ve been blogging for TEN YEARS now, ya’ll! In “My 10 Year Blogiversary pt. 1”, I share links to each bridal blog series that I’ve…
Deborah’s Wedding Day!
It’s finally time to share about Deborah’s wedding day! HOORAY! Deborah and Blake were married in November 2017 at a church in Greensboro, NC with…
- Brides ·
- Construction ·
Crafting Deborah’s Skirt
While crafting Deborah’s bodice, I also began crafting the skirt of her custom wedding dress! Her skirt was designed to have the loveliest deep pleats with gorgeous…
Creating My Own Dress for Cameron’s Wedding Reception
(Okay, so I’ve been away a bit while creating my newest eCourse but…) After the final post in my blog series about creating Cameron’s gorgeous…
- Brides ·
- Construction ·
Helping Brides Make Their Own Wedding Dresses
If you follow this blog, you know by now that I love making wedding dresses for others and I loved making my own wedding dress. You…
How to Choose and Use a Thimble
There are many great pleasures in my life and sewing practice that I originally resisted. I would never have learned to sew at all if…
Two Myths of Learning To Make Your Own Sewing Patterns
Before becoming a custom wedding dressmaker, I had an unusual introduction to sewing which took me from absolute beginner to sewing professionally for Broadway in only 5…
My Sewing Machines
Before I start blogging about my summer bride, I thought I’d tell you a bit about my sewing machines, including the new additions to my…
DIY Professional Ironing Table
I’ve been blogging at BrooksAnn.com for a little over 6 years now. While most of my posts are following the story of a bride and…
Small Sewing Space Solution: Portable Ironing/Cutting Table
As women begin to take online courses with me, we often talk about solutions for working in small home sewing spaces. While it’s fantastic if you have…
Caitlin’s Couture Bridal Buttons, Linings, and Waist Stay
After Caitlin’s final fitting… …it was finally time to do all the couture finishing work. I love this part of the process! Couture finishing requires…
Sewing Technique Spotlight: Underlining (pt.1)
Have you ever wondered if there is an easy way to make your handmade garments look professional instead of home-made? A sewing technique called underlining…
DIY Professional Sewing Room Table
Last week, I sent an email to those on my free newsletter subscription list featuring a clever solution for making a small sewing space feel like a…
Retrospective: My years as a custom picture frame craftsman
In last week’s post, I mentioned that I no longer have a day job. You may not have known for the past 9+ years, while…
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…
- Business ·
- Construction ·
Retrospective: The making of a dress, a blog & a business
Leah’s wedding dress was the first real wedding dress that I created for someone I did not already know. It’s funny to think of…
- All the Brides ·
- Brides ·
Retrospective: My Own Raw Silk & Cotton Lace Wedding Dress
Yes, I made my own wedding dress. After making his sister Katie’s wedding dress and his sister Melissa’s wedding dress, I got engaged to my…
- Brides ·
- Construction ·
The Construction of Lila Rose’s “Space Bustle” pt. 2 (Ta-da!)
If you are just joining, you are probably wondering what in the world I am making! Lila Rose is a non-traditional bride who commissioned a…
- Brides ·
- Construction ·
The Construction of Lila Rose’s “Space Bustle” pt.1 (Prep)
After the collar was constructed, I was able to add the invisible zipper, begin to close up the dress, and start on the unique bustle…
- Brides ·
- Construction ·
Using “wiggle bones” in Lila Rose’s stand-up pleated collar
As you may recall from the mockup and sketches, Lila Rose’s dress will have a pleated stand-up collar. Our original inspiration photo had a very…
- Brides ·
- Brooks Ann ·
Two weddings and a funeral
If you’ve been following the story of Greta’s dress, you may know that- though I am behind in posting the progress of its construction- her…
Initial Consultation pt.2 (Strapless)
As I explained in pt. 1 of this blog post, Michelle’s face lit up when we started talking about style. She loved the inspiration of…
Recent Posts...
My 26th Sew-iversary! Pt 3: Entrepreneur
Welcome back! Let’s pick up my sewing story 15 years ago at my own March 2008 wedding, which is where we left off in Pt. 2 Employment. In my free time, I had designed and made my own wedding dress (after doing similar for my sisters-in-law Katie and Melissa) while I was employed as a…
My 26th Sew-iversary! Pt 2: Employment
Welcome back! In this second segment of my Sew-iversary series, I’ll share about the various ways I was employed before going solo. While putting together Pt 1 Academics, I predicted Pt 2 would be a quick post. I didn’t remember having many photos from my Employment Era. But after poking around and digging deep into…
My 26th Sew-iversary! Pt 1: Academics
Hi there! I’m Brooks Ann Camper and I love making things. You may already know that I’ve been blogging about making custom wedding dresses since 2009 and have been teaching those who sew solo how to design and handcraft garments from their own self-drafted custom-fit patterns online since 2014. But that’s only a part of…
Jenn’s Rehearsal and Wedding Day!
De Nueva Photography It’s the final post in Jenn’s bridalwear blog series! The custom pieces I created in all the previous posts have reached their final destiny: on Jenn! “Brooks Ann Camper turned my mama’s wedding dress into a rehearsal outfit for me and made my bridal shoot veil and wedding veil- With her hands!!!!…
Jenn’s Wedding Ceremony Millinery
In this second-to-last post in Jenn’s bridalwear blog series, I’ll share the story of creating a custom fascinator headpiece for her to wear during her wedding ceremony. I love making millinery pieces!
Finishing Jenn’s Couture Wedding Rehearsal Top
In my previous post, I took a little aside in Jenn’s bridal blog series to share one of the custom millinery pieces I made for her. But my seven posts prior were about taking her mom’s 1970 wedding dress apart and hand crafting it into a custom-designed custom-fitted wedding rehearsal top for my friend Jenn. …
Hi there! I'm Brooks Ann.
I’m an independent designer and couture dressmaker for one-of-a-kind bridalwear located in Hillsborough, North Carolina. I also teach the sew-curious both in-person and online.
My blog follows along with the couture process of how each heirloom-quality custom wedding dress is made from idea to wedding day, as well as other interesting tidbits related to sewing, weddings, and body positivity.
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