Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Custom Wedding Dresses and Sewing Lessons in Hillsborough, Durham, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Creating My Own Dress for Cameron’s Wedding Reception

❤ Posted by brooks ann on June 13, 2018

Jun 13

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture(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 custom wedding overdress, I wanted to share the behind-the-seams process of the dress I wore to her reception. And with so many photos (and videos!), I hope the story kind of tells itself…

The Inspirations

I’m pretty firmly in the camp of “the dressmaker has no clothes” but, when I attend a wedding or reception of a bride where I made the wedding dress, I try to also make myself a dress. When introduced as the dressmaker, I am invariably asked “Did you make the dress you are wearing?”. I try my best to have the answer be “Yes!”

I love a 6-month project, but I didn’t have a lot of time between finishing Cameron’s dress and the party. Instead of shopping for fabric, I shopped my own fabric stash for anything that had enough yardage for a simple dress. I became inspired by some purple wool fabric leftover from trousers I made on-camera in my eCourse Smarty Pants and a set of pearls from Carlisle & Linny Vintage Jewelry.

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Without a sketch (or much of a design plan), I moved quickly into the mockup phase of the process to see where it would take me…

The Mockup

I used my Skirt Skills skirt block to create the bottom of the dress and got started on the top pattern by stealing it from from another dress I drafted. I wanted some sort of fancy neckline but hadn’t decided what it would be yet, so I just rotated the dart value to the neck and played around with the fabric in my first mockup fitting.

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Since much (all?) of what I create is heavily documented and shared, my original plan for this dress was to create something ‘quick and easy’ AND to refrain from sharing any of the process. I wanted to see what it would be like to make something without everyone watching… BUT I ended up posting the following 3 pics of my mockup corrections on Instagram and literally got hundreds (which turned into thousands) of new followers. It was clear that people wanted to see where this was going…

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

At this point, I was called in for Jury Duty and narrowly missed being Juror #5 in a 3-week murder trial that would have kept this dress from ever happening. Once dismissed, I decided to keep documenting the process which is why you are reading this blog post today!

The Underlining

Once corrected, I used my mockup’s muslin pieces as my underlining for the wool. If you’d like to learn more about underlining using your mockup, visit my 3-part underlining blog series (with a video!) which starts here or the condensed version I wrote for Seamwork Magazine. 

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

The mockup hand stitched to the inside of the wool has so many benefits: adding comfort, structure, confidence (that it fits like the mockup since it IS the mockup)… I could go on and on (and do in my underlining blog series…)

Seams and Darts

Next up, I got the basic construction done by pinning and stitching all of the darts and most of the seams. I’d leave the side seams open for a basted fitting and the finishing work is easier if I keep it as flat as possible for as long as possible.

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Once the darts and (most of) the seams were stitched, I finished off the waist seams with silk bias binding (leftover from Margaret’s mother-of-the-bride dress)…

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

…before adding an invisible zipper discreetly down the back.

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

The shoulder seams were the next bit to be stitched and finished. All of the bias binding was first added by machine and then handpicked only through the underlining layer. No hand stitches reach through to the wool! This is one of my favorite techniques. It makes sewing perfect stitches unnecessary while creating a gorgeous clean finish.

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Edge Finishing

Next it was time to finish the neckline and armhole edges with the same bias binding. Starting with the armholes, I first added the bias tape to the edge line by machine…

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

…then under stitched (from the top) by machine…

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

…then trimmed away the excess…

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

…before turning it all to the inside, pressing and pinning it perfectly in place…

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

…and hand stitching the inside edge to the underlining layer.

Here’s what it looked like finished from the inside and the outside:

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Once the armholes were rockin’, I followed the same process for the neckline edge.Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

When I reached the bulky bits, I added an extra hidden hand stitch to keep everything right where I wanted it.

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

To learn more about binding curves with bias, check out the article I wrote for Seamwork Magazine called “Learning Curves”.

The Final Seams and Finishing Touches

At this point, here’s how cool it looked inside and out!

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Next I pinned and basted the side seams for a quick fitting…

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

…added the hem and the label…

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

…and the dress was done!

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Yay!!!

The Couture Tour (on Instagram Stories)

When I was sharing this on Instagram, I gave a “couture tour” of the dress via their Stories feature. Instagram Stories allows you to share 15 second vertical videos that stay online for only 24 hours. I kept the clips, so I strung them together and made a little video for you to enjoy.

 

The Big Day

Though Cameron was married in Scotland, she had a local reception which my handsome husband and I attended. But first a few quick selfies at the house…

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

…before a very quick photo shoot at my sewing studio.

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

Then we celebrated with Cameron (who got to wear the overdress I made her a second time) at a fantastic party!

Creating my Dress for Cameron's Reception by Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture

It was such an honor to work with Cameron and I was also thrilled to have a new dress in my own closet. My attempt to keep the dressmaking process private was a total failure, but it’s apparently against my nature to not share. I learned that having a little part of all of you in my sewing room with me is actually where I thrive! Thanks so much for following along!

 

What’s Up?

Many of you may be wondering where I’ve been and what’s up next on the blog!

For the past couple of months I have been laser-focused on creating my newest eCourse Top Class. It’s a comprehensive interactive online course on creating custom-designed custom-fit tops for yourself! I write, film, edit, upload, produce, teach, etc. etc. etc. from start-to-finish all by myself. Each of my eCourses include over 10 hours of finished video so there was unfortunately no time for anything else (I’ll call you soon Mom!) Look forward to a blog post about it soon!

If you are interested in joining, Top Class’s prerequisite Skirt Skills opens for registration this weekend (6/16). This is the last chance to join the intro course in 2018! Learn more at www.SkirtSkills.com.

On the blog, you can look forward to a few fun sewing-related posts before I dive back into blogging about another fun bride. If you have any topics that you’d love for me to cover let me know! I’m really happy to be back sharing with all of you!

 

NEXT POST: ??? More about Top Class? Wanna learn about gravity feed irons? My thoughts on Meghan Markles’s wedding dress? Or would you rather I get right to sharing the story of my next bride’s custom dress?

Let me know what you think and I’ll see you again in a couple of weeks! Thanks so much for following along!

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« Cameron’s Wedding Day!
Dyeing for a Change »

Comments

  1. Jess says

    June 13, 2018 at 7:04 pm

    Meghan Markle – yes!!!! And your dress is stunning.

    • brooks ann says

      June 14, 2018 at 7:43 am

      Thanks! If you get on my mailing list before 11amEST today, you’ll hear my thoughts on Meghan Markle’s dress in my newsletter! http://eepurl.com/R8Uhr

  2. Melanie says

    June 15, 2018 at 9:03 pm

    This is a stunning finish! Thanks for sharing the finished dress. Is absolutely love to hear your thoughts on Meghan markel’s wedding dress! Then the next bride

    • brooks ann says

      June 16, 2018 at 7:16 am

      My pleasure! Thanks for following along!
      I shared my thoughts on Meghan’s dress in my latest newsletter.
      Here’s the archive: https://mailchi.mp/brooksann/3959vdr3zm-3270813
      If you’d like to receive my newsletter, join my mailing list here: http://eepurl.com/R8Uhr

  3. Chauna says

    June 19, 2018 at 8:48 pm

    More on Top Class please!!! I didn’t get to sign up for the first round due to me being out the country but I am soo looking forward to the next time it’s going to be offered and I really want to know how the first go round went!

    • brooks ann says

      June 20, 2018 at 12:38 pm

      Yes! It will be fun to work together again Chauna.

  4. Ann Tilley says

    June 22, 2018 at 9:07 pm

    Always so impressed with your due diligence at perfectly finishing all those seams! And love love your insight on “keep it as flat, as long as possible”. I’m gonna keep that in mind! Can’t wait till you get another excuse to visit Greensboro!

    • brooks ann says

      June 23, 2018 at 8:56 am

      Thanks Ann! I’d love an excuse to hang out again!

Trackbacks

  1. Wednesday Weekly #135 – Helen's Closet says:
    June 20, 2018 at 5:15 pm

    […] Brooks Ann Camper wrote an awesome post about her latest creation. […]

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brooksanncamper

Hi there! I'm Brooks Ann, and 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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