Wedding dress part I

Hello all,I had a loooong week at work, normally it is not that peacuful in a hospital ward, but the past week was. So I was quite energized after coming home and had time to start sewing my wedding dress and this posting is  about what I've learnt so far:

1) Choosing the pattern
  It can be tricky to find a pattern that matches your tastes. I went through my old sewing magzines and borrowed magazines from my friends. There were many good options or patterns that were usable for a wedding dresses like ball gowns/evening dresses/dancing gowns/party tops and shirts/skirts.
I had an idea what to do but  I changed the pattern midway thorugh, because I couldn't find a decents pattern for an illusion neckline and I saw the price tag for the prettiest laces. And I didn't want to use lace that costs 70 euros/meter, so I opted for a more ball gown type style.

Back

I got an suggestion to visit dress shops to see what kind of a dress style suits my body type, but guess who never had time to actually do that? And besides I always end up picking similar dress: a fitted bodice and a full skirt,  I just like that kind of dresse so why bother changing my style?

2) Getting an idea what to buy
 Go to the fabric store and ask all tricky questions you have concerning the materials there. Check out the fabrics they have and how those fabrics feel to your touch and imagine that you are spending an entire day in that fabric. And it is a good thing to know your charcter, I know that I wouldn't have the patience to use elastic fabric or a very thin fabric. That is the main reason why I am choosing something like satin or taffeta.
The personnel is there for you to help to pick the right fabric and get what you need. And at least in Finland I got good recommendations from one the women in the fabric store about where to find the rest of my shopping list that they didn't have. They are experts on what kind of needles and thread to choose.

3) First prototype

Front

I made my first attempt at the bodice model this week just see if the pattern fits or is it a total disaster on me. I used an old curtain fabric I had in my storage, I just made the pattern according to all instruncitons and didn't do any alternations. I cut the fabric with the corrcet seam allowances and didn't do any finishing touches yet. The result isn't that pretty I guess but it gives me the idea of how the bodice will look and what tricks I need to do the pattern before making a second prototype.
Use cheap or old fabric for prototypes, I've had old fabrics around as long as I can remember and old curtains are just good. I used cotton fabric for mine because the final dress will be fitted and I wanted to use a fabric that doesn't stretch. If I had ended up using lace or some more elastic fabric I would've picked propaplya more elastic fabric for a prototype.
Good thing about using cotton is that I could draw all seam allowances on fabric along with other cuts. It made the sewing so much easier. I know that I can't use normal pen on satin or taffeta, but who cares about the prototypes?

Seam allowances drawn on fabric

Extra1: Buy a good sewing handbook, you are going to need it. I found mine on sale for 10 euros and it is worth every cent now.
Extra2: It is a good thing to have a good relationship with your old handicrafts teacher back in school, my old teacher was very happy to offer advice on how to do a fitted bodice.

Have a blessed week!
- Minttusuklaa, who is having trouble not to turn this into a wedding blog

Wedding preparations II

Hello all readers,

I just love summer! It is the most best season during the year, at least this summer has been amazing. I've notived that I've really started to stress about my wedding, but that is quite normal isn't it?
This past week, we have finalized the menu and planned most of the whole reception. In Finland we traditionally have outdoor weddings and self-written wedding vows. But we're gonna have those. So I'm totally planning to do an untraditional Finnish wedding.

This week my work hasn't been so intense, but designing decorations and planning the schedule for wedding has taken quite a lot of time.
Well at least I have a design for my flower girls' dresses. They're going to look absolutely cute. I'm happy that I don't need to sew their dresses. The dresses are goinf to be pure white, with navyblue sash/belt and roses on the hem. And if the girls want, their mom can add a layer of organza to the waist.

 As for decorations and placing cards I found that you can make very nice looking decorations out of pine cones. So I asked my youngest little brother to pick up 400 pine cones from my grandparents place and I just received them today. Then next thing to do is to paint them with silver, navy blue and white/vanilla. And the best place to buy paints is a shop specialized in selling car stuff according to my brother.

Oh and I was buying clothes from sale today and went of course to a diy shop and found cute rose petals that are going to be turned into roses and hair decorations with my veil. The glasse are also for table decorations and hopefully I can find more good looking glasses, probably gonna search tthorugh second hand shops for that.

So all in all, my wedding preparations are going pretty well

- Soon to be MRS

Wedding preparations I

Hi all,

Sorry for not posting anything in June. My June was just so hectic with making wedding invitations, planning THE dress, moving back to my parents place and doing an internship with a surgical department. I just didn't have the energy to pick up ctochet hooks or knitting needles at all.

But all in all everything is going fine, we bought bridemaids dresses today (from summer sales of course) and I even went out to try shoes (pity that the pretties shoes were blue...). I've done a few sketches about how my dress should look like and this is the best version:

For the fabric I'm going to use either satin or taffeta, I don't know which one yet, but probably the cheaper one. I plan to use a zipper and sew blue buttons to the back just to look nice and add some blue pearls or sequins to the front. And straps? I haven't decided yet.
My friends have promised to make the veil and now I just need to figure out a pretty hairdo, that won't be too hard, right?
And I still need to design dresses for flower girls. That is going to be so much fun 👗. They are probably going to need nice flower crowns with crocheted flowers and cute pearl.

- Soon-to-be-Mrs-