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 wonderful amazing handsome husband Charles. Our wedding was held on the afternoon of the Ides of March 2008. It was our seven year Kissaversary. So what does the wedding dressmaker […]
Retrospective: Melissa’s Silk Chiffon Maternity Wedding Dress
As you may remember from my first “retrospective blog post” last week, the first real wedding dress that I ever made was for my (now) husband Charles’s sister Katie. Well, Charles has more than one sister! Not long after Katie’s wedding, his sister Melissa announced her engagement. I had such a great experience working with […]
Retrospective: Katie’s bias cut silk charmeuse wedding dress
This is my gorgeous sister-in-law Katie. She got married in 2006 and wore the very first Brooks Ann Camper Bridal Couture dress ever made. Before the blog, before the website, before the logo, and almost before the studio, Katie accepted a wedding gift of a custom wedding dress, a feat I had never attempted […]
Lila Rose’s Wedding Day!
Lila Rose is now a married lady!!! Lila Rose’s wedding day was perfect! It was held in Ohio on the playground of her elementary school. The wedding was a complete DIY affair. I was the only wedding professional they hired for any aspect of the wedding. Each of the guests were given a specific task, […]
Kent Corley Bridal Shoot with Lila Rose!!!
Isn’t she gorgeous!!!!? Once Lila Rose put on her finished wedding ensemble for the first time, it was pure magic. She was so comfortable, totally in her element, and was absolutely in love with the dress. And what an amazing team we had to pull off this photo shoot! Kent Corley was the photographer at […]
Kent Corley Photo Shoot of Lila Rose’s Custom Wedding Dress
I had an fantastic photo shoot with Kent Corley Photography! Kent Corley is an amazingly talented product photographer right here in Hillsborough, NC. He’s shot all of my dresses for my portfolio! I shoot each dress on its custom dress form after it is completed, but before it is sent off to the bride. Although […]
The Making of the Train
Many brides these days are opting for two looks for their wedding day: a ceremony look and a different reception look. Some brides opt for two completely different dresses, but I always find it fun to have a transitional garment in which something is added or removed to create a completely different look. I did […]
Neon Pink Wedding Dress Under Construction!
100+ hours into the process, I am finally taking Lila Rose’s actual wedding dress to the sewing machine! Out of the 170 hours projected for this project, I probably spend no more than 10 of them at the sewing machine. The majority of the time is spent designing, patterning, mockups, fittings, shopping, pressing, cutting and […]
Underlining: The Couturier’s Friend
Underlining! If there is one step that takes a garment from homemade to couture, it is underlining. If you sew and don’t know about underlining, once you try it you’ll see that it makes all the difference in the world in your quality. Underlining is often also known as flat lining, interlining, or innerlining. Not […]