Take a break from reality...: June 2016

Growing up, I didn't really know what I wanted my wedding dress to look like. As an adult, I loved Kate Middleton's dress and didn't love strapless(or maybe just the idea of pulling up a dress all night). The closer I came to needing to pick out a dress the more I thought I could make my mom's wedding dress from 34 years ago work. I tried on dresses at one store. You know, just for the experience. Let me tell you how much fun that was when you're a few sizes bigger than the sample sizes. Plus, the dress I "built" b/c they didn't sell sleeved dresses looked exactly like what I was imagining my mom's dress could turn out to be. This was all before TLC made a show out of upcycling old dresses but after that sister in 27 Dresses destroyed Katherine Heigl's hopes of ever wearing her mom's dress. So after convincing my mom(she wasn't a fan of the idea since she didn't see how I could turn her dress into something I'd actually want to wear) we started pulling ideas off Pinterest.
These sleeves - That back - This fullness - Let's Demo

The following is a heavily photographed play-by-play of my experience.

#1 Try on dress for some good laughs. Did I mention my mom is 7 inches SHORTER and was about 8 sizes SMALLER? Not annnywhere close to zipping up in the back.

#2 Steam steam steam out those wrinkles. My mom had stored it in a black trash bag in the attic?? Good Lawd Steaming it stunk up the whole house! At this point, we send off the dress to get dry cleaned because the smell was so bad and not going anywhere.

Mom headed to Gail K Fabrics in ATL. They sell all sorts of fabrics. We tried to find the closest thing to the old french Chantilly lace used on her dress. She said they had it stored in shoeboxes in the store! I'm so sad I didn't get to go with her. Apparently it was a really neat place. I was busy cutting wine bottle in half for table decor. Details. Anyway, she got the lace that matched-ish, to add width and satin & silk organza to add length. Ok, now stay with me...

Fitting 1: Add satin band around waist / remove sweetheart bust and make straight across / take the bell out of the sleves / add lace under arms for a wider chest / and open up the back since we all know that dress ain't nevah gonna zip

Look closely - a few inches of new(old) lace under each arm for chest width. It didn't match perfectly but no one ever noticed...or at least they didn't tell me. Either one I'm fine with :)

Next Fitting: Remove more bell in the sleeves / finalize back of dress / add length @ the bottom w/more fabric mom found to match the 34-yr-old silk organza

There was another fitting in there somewhere but I don't remember what it was for. In the end, I added a crinoline skirt and decided not to use my mom's train(although I sort-of now wish I had but oh well) Sometimes I can't believe how great it turned out. I didn't do it to save money, but that was a perk, so we also got a 2nd dress off the rack for the end of the reception dancing. LOOOOOK HOW IT TWIRLS DUH!