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Happy Accidents
I love happy accidents. There’s no avoiding it: things never go exactly as planned. With something with as many variables as a totally custom dress,…
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Category: Jill
Follow the Story of Jill’s Wedding Jacket
- Accessories ·
- Brides ·
- Jill ·
Pattern Corrections
Pattern correction always creates an interesting conflict of interests for me. The fewer corrections you have to make, the closer that the dress is to…
- Accessories ·
- Brides ·
- Fitting ·
First (and only!) Fitting
A custom dress always requires multiple fittings. I first make the hand-drafted pattern into a sample garment that we try on first. We can fix…
- Accessories ·
- Brides ·
- Jill ·
Butterfly Bouquet
I’m not just a dressmaker. When people ask me “what do you do?” Sometimes I list my professions, but most of the time I just…
- Accessories ·
- Brides ·
- Jill ·
Mocked-Up
I’ve taken my paper patterns and made two sample jackets, or mock-ups, for Jill to try on when I see her for her fitting over…
- Accessories ·
- Brides ·
- Jill ·
I love flat patterning.
For custom garments, there are two methods to create a pattern: draping and flat patterning. Basically, draping is when the patternmaker pads a dressform to…
- Accessories ·
- Brides ·
- Jill ·
Flat Patterning without Measurements
As you know, I am making this shrug for my cousin Jill at a great distance. One of the biggest challenges I had to try…
- Accessories ·
- Brides ·
- Jill ·
Sketches
I worked up a couple of sketches for Jill to see based on all our previous conversations, questionnaire and swatches. I snail mailed her samples…
- Accessories ·
- Brides ·
- Design ·
Fabric Swatching
Jill and I decided that it would be perfect if I used shades of purple in the jacket, rather than the traditional all-white bride (not…