Friday Frocks: Beach Wedding Dress: Dessy 1030

Our honeymoon was at an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica, and naturally, I saw more than a couple of destination weddings. I remember one bride had the full-on giant taffeta dress with a train, and beading, and sequins, and the whole nine yards. I would have nightmares trying to transport that dress--what if my luggage got lost or damaged? The rest of the wedding party was pretty casually dressed, but the bride really stood out in her giant dress.

Obviously it's not for everyone, but I think a more casual beach wedding is the perfect opportunity to wear a shorter dress--you'll be breezy and carefree in a hot climate, and you can even dip your toes in the ocean without having a team to hold up your dress!

I'm liking this Dessy destination wedding dress. It's sweet and easy, could be dressed up or dressed down, and won't take up a lot of room in your luggage. Plus, I'm a sucker for pockets in fancy occasion dresses!

Friday Frocks: McCall's M6466

This pattern caught my eye in McCall's new holiday patterns--wouldn't it make a fabulous tea-length wedding dress? Sort of that frothy, romantic ballerina look, and, of course, reminiscent of the famous Audrey Hepburn dress.

I'm not a champion seamstress, and I know that when I was getting married I wouldn't have been able to handle a huge project like that. But my mother did make her own wedding dress, as well as my younger sister's, not to mention numerous bridesmaid's dresses for members of my family. Do you know someone who's a confident sewer who'd be willing to take on a project like that?

Petticoat/Crinoline Tutorials

Courtesy of Elegant Musings, some tutorials on making your own petticoats for your vintage wear--including, naturally, your tea-length wedding dress.

Is anyone out there making their own wedding dress? I have to admit, I was sorely tempted, but my sewing skills are a little... rusty, to say the least. It's one of those things I keep wanting to get back into, but I'm thinking starting with small projects might be the way to go. I remember way back in the day, I made a bridesmaid dress for a friend who was in a bridal party who'd been given a pattern. I still remember making the muslin for it (I had no idea how to do alterations for someone petite, given that I'd only ever sewn for 5'7", voluptuous me), and how I got incredibly nervous cutting into that royal blue, expensive, expensive dupioni silk. Too much pressure!

But making a crinoline would definitely have its advantages for the crafty tea-length bride--you can control the volume of the poof, the length, the colour---you just have to have room for the miles and miles of netting you'll be dealing with!