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 dress. With the custom sketch of the dress design and the Size-Tiffany dress form as my guides, I experimented my way through a first draft of paper patterns.

There are essentially two ways to create a custom-designed custom-fit pattern: Draping and Flat Pattern. Draping works in 3D by manipulating fabric onto a dress form that replicates the individual’s body. Flat Pattern works in 2D by manipulating paper based on the individual’s body measurements. I usually use a combo of both and Tiffany’s dress was no exception!

The Rough Drape

Though I teach custom flat patternmaking in my online courses, I most often start off with draping for my brides. Most beginners can’t afford the space (physically, mentally, and financially) for a full-sized body-double in their sewing space but, as a pro, I adore working with this tool. Not only is the custom dress form the foundation for creating my patterns, it is also great for photographing the dress, storing/displaying the dress, and it helps with designing and sewing and fitting and much more!…

Read More »

Never miss a post! Sign up for my email newsletter.

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 created a custom coqui to sketch a wedding dress to fit her unique body and style.

I’ve reached a point in my career where I mostly only accept commissions that offer a unique benefit for the bride (if she can find something in a store- I encourage her to buy it from the store) and offer a new and interesting challenge for me (I love learning new things- which is why I love teaching so much).

The benefit/challenge for this custom dress commission: Tiffany is very petite.

When searching for wedding dresses, she consistently felt “swallowed whole“. For her wedding day, she didn’t want to wear something that was designed for someone else’s proportions and have it ‘taken in’ in an attempt to work for hers. When you choose custom, you and only you are the inspiration and the starting point for the design and creation process. I was very excited to accept the challenge to design for Tiffany’s petite figure while creating the wedding dress of her dreams!

Photos and Measurements

Once the design was accepted by the bride, my next step was to measure and photograph her body for the purpose of turning a professional dress form into a Size-Tiffany body-double. This tool would allow me to create custom-fit patterns, to design and sew three-dimensionally, to display and photograph the dress in a uniquely custom way… and much more. Having an accurately shaped replica of my bride is incredibly helpful (and a lot of fun)!…

Read More »

Never miss a post! Sign up for my email newsletter.

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 the behind-the-seams story of creating her one-of-a-kind custom couture wedding dress from start-to-finish. To keep the dress a surprise for the groom and guests (and because my blogging style is slow and thorough), I do not begin to tell the story until after her wedding day. To tell the story as it happened, the blurry selfie above is the only early peek you’ll get of part of her completed custom dress!

Hello Tiffany!

Last December, Tiffany said “I do!” to the love of her life, but our story began last summer when she first contacted me.

She said “Reading about your academic and professional background in design and dressmaking is such a relief. A lot of dressmakers I’ve found in the area seem to depend entirely on how long ago they picked up sewing and less on proper techniques and processes for design and dressmaking. I have so much respect for what you do and wish I had enough time to make the dress with you. Way back when in high school, I had the chance to take sewing courses. After one year of sewing classes, three dresses and a fitted jacket, I purchased a sewing machine and serger. That preview I received in those classes forever changed how I look at buying clothes, getting alterations, and making new items. Working with anyone else without your qualifications would be too much of a leap of faith for me, and I hope we can make this happen!”

How cool is she? And, needless to say, we did make it happen!…

Read More »

Never miss a post! Sign up for my email newsletter.

Though you may be itching for the beginning of a new bridal blog series (me too!), I recently worked on an unusual and special project that I really wanted to share. I made a Dior-inspired square for a surprise “Couture Quilt”!

First off, let’s establish that I am a dressmaker, not a quilter.  I have zero quilting experience. However, I thought it might be fun to share how a non-quilter couturier tackled this non-traditional project step-by-step. I fear that I’m sharing waaaay too many photos, but this teeeeeny flat dress was soooo adorable that I couldn’t help myself!

What!? Who? When? Why?

The quilt was a surprise for Judy Adamson in celebration her retirement as the director of the University of North Carolina’s Costume Production MFA program, a 3-year full-time very-intense program where I learned all about the production side of professional costuming. Most schools will offer Masters Degrees in Costume Design, but very few are focused on the people and the skills needed to turn a designer’s sketch into reality- which is much more interesting to me than design (and way more interesting to me than fashion-based education). I learned custom pattern making, custom fitting, couture sewing, dyeing, millinery… all the good stuff! (And the graduates get hired! I landed a dreamy Broadway millinery job right out of school. Graduates work for professional theatres, film, opera…  One of my classmates is Dolly Parton’s costumer…)

The program is very small. Each year, only two incoming students are accepted. (The program is also very difficult. Each year, one or both may drop out. Judy started the program in 1993. In 2001, I was the 8th graduate of the program!) The very small class size led to a very special education and very special relationships with our teachers. Most classes were taught by Judy herself. She helped turn us all into who we are today!

In April, former graduates gathered to celebrate her years being our mentor. As a surprise gift, many of us contributed a 12″x12″ custom square for a “Couture Quilt”….

Read More »

Never miss a post! Sign up for my email newsletter.

In part 1 of this Epic Photo Essay, I shared all the prep steps to get my self-drafted splatter print dress ready for stitching. (If you haven’t peeped it yet, go catch up!) In this pt 2, I’ll share how I buttoned everything up. Literally!

When sewing from your own custom patterns, there is no picture of what the end looks like and no instruction booklet to tell you exactly what step needs to happen next. Some may find this scary, but I find it fantastically freeing! The truth is, the pattern designer who wrote the instruction booklet is only ever able to give you a rough guide. They couldn’t possibly know the specifics about your unique goals, body, fabrics, tools, preferences, sewing style… There are so many variables that go into making something a success!

The way I sew is a little more like real life. There isn’t ever a clear picture of how things are going to go down. You simply keep moving forward one step at a time. You don’t know the ending until you get there. Heck, you don’t really know the next step until you get there. It’s a slow journey, but it is one where you are constantly able to evolve, evaluate, experiment, and improve.

Having no rules or instructions forces you to carefully consider the exact moment of the process that you are in. It forces you to carefully consider your specific goals/needs/ideas/desires and your specific combo of body/pattern/design/fabric etc, which in turn gives you your best chance for success! There’s a lots of puzzle-solving and everything you try might not be total success as fast as you’d like. That’s life! Might as well get in some practice with these important life-skills while doing something that you love and enjoy!

This is one of the reasons why I don’t share pics of a finished wedding dress before reaching the end of the blog story of its creation. Before the dress was completed, I didn’t know exactly how it would turn out and the bride didn’t know exactly how it would turn out, so it would be misleading to show all of you what we didn’t know. Same goes for the finished garments created in the online workshops I teach: sharing the end before registration would be a little like spoiling the end of the novel you are about to open!

So don’t let the selfie-sneak-peek above fool you! This post begins after all the designing, pattern drafting, mockup making, mockup fitting, fitting corrections, construction sampling, and underlining. All of the pieces of my new dress were still flat, with all the custom shaping and fancy finishing waiting to be added….

Read More »

Never miss a post! Sign up for my email newsletter.

I made a dress! For myself! And I took a bazillion photos! And I’m excited to share them with you!

My passion is helping others look great. Unless I’m heading to a wedding where I made the bride’s dress or I’m self-sewing on-camera for one of my online workshops, I’m firmly in the camp of ‘the dressmaker has no clothes’.

As a self-employed business owner, I have approximately 9 years of work on my To-Do List at all times. A few months ago, I was feeling so far underneath it that I was dragging along and feeling totally uninspired. To try to snap myself out of it, I looked around my studio for inspiration. The most inspiring thing I found was the fabric you see above: a colorful splatter print rayon from Mulberry Silks!

So instead of tackling my List, I decided to take some time to make something for myself!

And since a casual-ish dress for myself is much simpler than my bridal designs, and I know ya’ll love behind-the-seams process peeks as much as I love sharing them, I took photos of almost every step along the way! 417 photos to be exact… which I edited down to approximately 75…  I was very tempted to keep editing out bits of the story until an Instagram poll significantly favored sharing EVERYTHING… So… I hope you enjoy this epically photo-filled double-feature!…

Read More »

Never miss a post! Sign up for my email newsletter.

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 created over the past decade. If you follow along in order, you’ll see a clear evolution in my business, my skills, my writing, and my photography.

But not all of my blog posts follow a wedding dress’s progress, which brings me to pt. 2! In this, my #288th post, I’ll share a round-up of my most popular posts on other topics! There are retrospective posts, posts about sewing techniques and tools, posts about clothes I’ve made for myself, personal posts, and more…  Thanks so much for following along!

Origins and Evolutions

While each bridal blog series is linear and chronological, the other posts on my blog are a little more random. I’ll try to loosely thread them together by topic, starting with ones that share a little more about me and what I do.
…

Read More »

Never miss a post! Sign up for my email newsletter.