Bridesmaids dresses - finished!
27 May 2010, 14:00Both bridesmaids dresses for my September wedding are now finished! Since I’m sewing both of these plus my own gown, I stipulated that these had to be knit so that I could sew them early and my girls could feel free to gain or lose a few pounds without too much last-minute alterations hassle.
To refresh your memory, the three of us chose the Gant exclusive design dress from the Sept 08 Burda magazine:
The previous posts about these dresses spanned over a year (from our pre-illness, original wedding date), so to help you find them, here’s a handy list:
- Choosing the pattern
- Going fabric shopping and choosing their colours
- Tackling those pleated cummerbunds
- Finishing the first dress
Here are both dresses together, so you can see how nicely their colours will go together on the day:
Here’s G’s dress, in silver silk jersey with salmon silk satin (charmeuse) cummerband, lined in the same mauve lingerie tricot as P’s dress:
Here’s a detail shot of her button loops and the other side of the cummerbund where you can see there’s no side seam. The salmon colour is most accurate in these two photos – it had a tendency to go HOT PINK in some of the shots, but it’s really not!
You’ve already seen the details of P’s dress, but here’s some full length views of hers:
Once again, I apologise for the hanger photos, but these dresses won’t fit onto my dressform with her annoying unsquishable bosom, and the girls aren’t available with hair and makeup until the big day, so you’ll have to settle for these pretty shapeless forms on a hanger until then. These were only on their hangers for the photos, then went right back to being laid flat – with the sheer weight of the silk jersey skirts on them, I don’t want to risk distorting the bodice by hanging them. But trust me when I say they look really nice on them! And considering that the fabric bill for these came under £100, I don’t think we’ve done too badly at all!
Since P and G have very similar body types, I ended up doing almost exactly the same alterations for their dresses, even though they had their muslin fittings independently.
- Cut the front bodice on the fold, and raised the point of the V neckline to 9cm
- Took 3cm off the bottom of the bodice (front and back) to raise up the cummerbund
- Raised the armscye scoop (front and back) by 3cm at the underarm with a bit more added to the front scoop so that their bras won’t show
- Omitted the invisible zipper called for in the pattern and instead opted for four 11mm satin-covered buttons and button loops on the cummerbund (the bodice and skirt are stretchy enough that they can get them on over their heads without those seams needing to be open).
- A 5’9”, P needed the full length of the skirt, but G (about 5’6”?) had me take about 4 inches off the hem
- My only stylistic changes were to omit the side seam on the cummerbund, and to increase the number of pleats to 8, so it would look a bit more full
So these dresses are put aside now until their final fitting shortly before the wedding, when they’ll be hemmed and the buttons sewn on while the girls are in their final shoes and underwear/shapewear/whatever (the tiny satin-covered buttons are in little baggies pinned to the dress lining so they won’t get lost!). And maybe if I play my cards right I can farm those duties off to my mom or sister-in-law, who are also handy with a needle and thread!
And finally, here’s the composite view I made for the PR Formalwear Contest.
Winning their Lingerie Contest makes me ineligible to compete in this one, so I treated it more as a supportive Sew Along to keep me on my time schedule, and it worked! I allotted May and June to sewing these dresses, and I finished with only a week to spare! Let’s hope I can similarly stay on schedule when I go to start on my gown in July…
tags: bwof, dress, knit, silk, wedding
These look FANTASTIC!
— Laura VW May 27, 02:37 PM #
These are lovely! I’d be concerned that your bridesmaids will outshine you in these dresses, but know that since you’re making your gown too this won’t be a worry. :)
— meli88a May 27, 03:20 PM #
These are beautiful! what a lot of hard work you’ve done!
— Kathleen May 27, 03:47 PM #
Very, very nice! I love the button loops, such a wonderful added detail! Job well done!
— Kristine May 27, 04:05 PM #
They are beautiful! They are certainly dresses that I am sure will be worn again. When do we see the wedding dress pattern?
— Nancy k May 27, 05:44 PM #
Nancy –
I’m basing the gown loosely on Vogue 2965 but because I’m making it from my grandmother’s vintage gown, I’m going to have to do a lot of piecing and playing with the fabric I have to work with, so I’m not expecting it to be the same dress.
— melissa May 27, 06:00 PM #
How lovely! I’m sure you are so glad to have these done and out of the way…and they look super comfy too!
— Stacy Marie May 27, 06:47 PM #
Woo-HOOOOO! Super flattering, I am sure, without showing too much of anything ;-). Love your cummerbund alterations and the satin button idea. Now we’re all excited to see yours! Thanks for the great composite scan at the end, too.
— M Kate May 27, 07:44 PM #
Melissa, the gowns are beautiful, as I expect your own will be when you get it done. Can’t wait until your mother gets home from the wedding with pictures. Also hope that when you come back to the “states” for your honeymoon you will come back to Perry County and Dellville Church to see everyone.
— Carolyn May 27, 10:16 PM #
It’s so nice that you took such care in the making of these beautiful dresses. How clever of you to use knit to ensure there won’t be fitting issues down the line.
— Daisy May 28, 12:38 AM #
Gorgeous, I love the different colours and that these dresses will be totally wearable after the wedding too, a lovely gift for your bridesmaids.
— allisonC May 28, 12:56 AM #
Beautiful.Your work really paid off. Good idea to have knit fabric.
— Sigrid May 31, 08:11 AM #
The dresses look beautiful- and you got them done so early! I posted some photo’s of the Butterick top you asked about on my blog. It’s in Picasa. I don’t know if the link will work in the comment box, but here is a try. http://picasaweb.google.com/connie.bontje/Butterick5495# cheers!
— connie Jun 1, 06:53 PM #
As someone who had the honor to see up close the work involved with pleating the waist part I am even more impressed! They look absolutely wonderful, really stylish and the knit makes them a more modern looking alternative than the traditional bridesmaid look
— Johanna Lu Jun 5, 07:31 AM #