As we were having a small wedding, we each only had an attendant each. I knew whom I wanted to my Maid of Honor, my oldest friend, met on the first day of high school. I knew right away, right after I got engaged and asked her to be my MOH, that I wanted to put her in an iridescent orange and pink silk. The color would be gorgeous on her with her coloring, and perfect for the fall wedding we were planning.
My original inspiration was this dress I saw in a magazine on Renee Zellweger designed by the impeccable Carolina Herrera:
It's not very easy to see, but it was a simple and classic silhouette from the 1950's, fitted, sleeveless bodice and full, tea-length skirt. Ultra-feminine!
My scrapbook shows the two patterns I used to get the "bones" of each of the garmets constructed. I originally planned to make Jill's dress from the full-skirted option on the Retro Butterick re-issue pattern.
However, Butterick didn't re-size the original pattern for the modern woman, so the bodice I'd make for Jill, was way too small for her! I kept the skirt portion, but created a simple bateau neck, Princess-seamed bodice to attach to it for her, instead.
For Anastasia's dress (she was my husband's "Best Woman") I wanted to make her something that went with the vintage and retro cocktail-vibe we were planning for our wedding overall, but I also wanted her dress to compliment my husbands tuxedo. The Vogue Easy Options sundress pattern was perfect for this.
I found a fabulous black jacquard fabric at the fabric store, and bought some black semi-matte satin fabric to make the waistband and the double lapel detail that I added to the dress on my own to give the dress a tuxedo look. The jacquard had a puckery-embossed effect and was easy to work with and looked beautiful once finished. The rhinestone and black enamel buttons at the front waist were beyond perfect!
I added a flat, squared black bow at the base of the bodice back for decoration and to reference the style of bows from the 1950's. Okay, truth be told and lesson learned, I had to conceal the waistband seams since they did not match up after I installed the invisible zipper. This is a common complaint with invisible zippers as it relates to home sewing. They disappear into the garmet seams so you don't see them, but trying to match up any cross seams can be a nightmare. Fortunately, this flat and squared bow hid the mis-matched seam and added to the beauty of the finished garment.
The inside was lined in satin and trimmed in leopard ribbon.
The finished result! Black hose, black net tulle underskirt that showed under her dress, black gloves and low kitten-heeled, ankle-strapped shoes with diamond-look buckles finished the look, perfectly.!
Jill tries on her dress a month before the wedding so I can see how it fits and looks with the gloves and her shoes. (Apologies for the blurry photos!) You can see I hadn't decided on the waist decoration at this point, yet.
The final result. I gave her a net underskirt that peeked out, too. That and the same shoe style for her and Anastasia created unity and cohesion between their outfits.
Another lesson learned: Jill's shoes proved a challenge. Since her dress was a weave of orange and hot pink silk fibers (that gave a gold iridescent sheen) having her shoes match or blend in was harder than I anticipated. I took a sample of fabric with the shoes to the shoe repair to be dyed, where they assured me they would match the goldish orange in the fabric sample. Instead, when I picked them up, they were bright, bright orange and looked completely wrong with her dress. I remedied the situation by buying some gold fabric paint at the craft store, and literally painted it on her shoes. (Her shoes were a combination crepe toe box and heel with satin trim, heel and ankle straps.) Surprisingly, the gold fabric paint when brushed over the orange dye job, turned into the perfect shade and matched up to her dress, beautifully!
I was so pleased with the end result, that I painted another pair of satin mules that I wore for the rehearsal dinner in orange paint and then painted them again with gold to get the same result as Jill's.
My final detail for Jill's dress, a rectangular rhinestone buckle I'd originally intended for a belt for her dress, repurposed within a 1950's inspired bow decoration (thank you, Jackie O. First Lady fashions coffee table book I own and consulted for reference and inspiration!).
