A Very Last Minute Bridesmaid Dress...And a Bigger Mistake!

It was two weeks before Christmas. Just like everyone else, I had lots of things to get done before the holidays began, and I was even more slow going with a baby in utero and toddler in tow. It was a cry for help. The bridesmaid found out less than a month ago that she was going to be a bridesmaid, and had gotten her dress the week before the wedding. I only had three days.

The first night she came over and tried on her dress. May I just say that it takes a certain kind of girl to pull off a purple dress. But this girl was so lovely, dark olive skinned and gorgeous thick black hair. But not only was she beautiful, she knew she was beautiful and wanted to try as best she could to save that beautiful part of herself for somebody really special. This is why I love Mormons, and this is the reason why I love to sew for them. What's even sweeter was that her boyfriend was with her, and supported her wanting to be modest, so for his Christmas gift he paid for all the alterations. That's love right there.

 

Though I really wanted to add sleeves to her dress, we didn't have the time to construct them. She needed to go out and buy matching fabric and thread. That took away the second day, leaving me with only 1 day to complete the job.

Three things were done to this dress. 1- I cut the bottom to the length of the outer and inner fabric that would fit her size and her heels. 2- I constructed a piece of fabric and hand sewed it on to cover the exposed bustline, helping her to feel more comfortable with her dress. And 3- I used the extra fabric to create a very nice wide shawl to cover her shoulders. It was all so tastefully elegant.

I'm finishing up the shawl and gave the boyfriend a call telling him I am finished. He asks if I might be able to do another shawl for the second bridesmaid so they match. That was no problem, since he bought a LOT of fabric, and there was enough for a nice long second shawl! That was a relief for him, and I was glad to help.

So you think that's the end of the story, right? Well in sewing all this, guess who woke up from her nap and got insanely bored while I was working? My toddler, Megan. Looking back now, I should have put on a movie, because she was bouncing off everything. For people who don't have kids, children do this when they are trying to get your attention and are so bored they can't figure out what else to do with themselves.

I put the dress on the manikin to get a better look at the final result. Stunning! Megan saw me cut the fabric of the second shawl, and I left the scissors on the floor to sew the side seams on the sewing machine...

...Big mistake. It wasn't completely her fault. Being so bored she wanted to copy what her mommy was doing. She took my scissors, saw the gorgeous dress on the manikin, and....

SNIP!

She cut off a piece of the BOTTOM OF THE DRESS!

I lost it! Boy did I lose it! I worked so hard on it! All I could say over and over again was "You ruined the dress, Megan!!" She said "Stop yelling at me," and she started to cry.....Aaawwwww.....yes, I was a bad mommy that day! My sewing routine is that I always work while Megan is asleep and then stop when she is awake. But that day I had no other naps to work with, so it needed to be done that same say. This and my negligence and not giving her something to entertain herself all added up to the inevitable.

I called the boyfriend and told him the news. He called his girlfriend, and then she called me. She said that it is alright, and if there was a way to fix it. When she came over I showed her the damage, and she was relieved that it wasn't that big of a cut. She was so sweet and told me she has a niece around her age, and it is totally fine. I did the very best I could do to fix it, I put the two sides together and sewed a tiny seam to seal it. She seemed pleased with the result, you could hardly tell there was ever a snip.

My in-laws were invited to the wedding and reception, and they found out about the dress alteration and the accident. The bridesmaid and my in-laws had a good laugh, and gave me ample credit for saving the wedding for the bridesmaids. That was sweet. I always have a soft spot for making dresses modest, no matter how short a time. Don't tell anybody!!

Wedding 2010 - Rebecca

My first wedding was with Rebecca, my sister. We needed to find a dress that would cover her religious clothing she would be wearing for the temple (aka something with sleeves, please!). Now how hard is it to find a dress with sleeves? Well before Princess Catherine set a gorgeous new standard in 2011, sleeves, let alone decent straps, were harder to come by here in New England than gold encrusted edible ice cream...if that's even edible...

I remember going to the bridal shops with Rebecca, trying on dress after dress, and one of her sisters asked "Why are we doing this? We can't possibly find a dress that will be modest out here!" But she was missing the point. With each dress she tried on Rebecca would say "I love the lace," "I love this mermaid style dress," "I love the frills on the bottom of this dress," "I love this going across the bustline," etc, and I would sit and listen to all the things she loved. 

One evening I was browsing my favorite website etsy.com, and I typed in several different words describing wedding dresses, just for fun...and I found...THIS!

I quickly ran and showed Becca - it was all the things she wanted, combined into ONE dress! A miracle!! All we had to do was line the inside of the shoulder straps, make some cap sleeves to match and it would work! Becca emailed the designer and found out that this dress could be ready for her in...gulp...one week before the wedding. Could I be able to fix this dress in time? I was up for the task!

So the week before the wedding came, and so did this dress. It was a little different, because we found out that the entire lace was beaded by hand. Incredible! She loved it. But since it was a true mermaid style, it was so tight around the thighs she couldn't seem to sit down all the way! I was going to have to take out the sides a bit.

I literally gave my daughter to whatever family was in the house, and went to work from 8am-11pm every day to get this dress done. I bought fabric and beads that almost matched the dress perfectly (enough that no one would know). When I took out the sides of the dress I hand sewed the same pattern of beads as on the rest of the dress. I lined the inside shoulders with a stretchy white satin fabric, which definitely helped in a comfortable fit. The sleeves I used similar lace, the stretch satin underneath, and hand sewed the beads on top and attached them to the dress. Lastly, I put hooks on the train and back to bustle up the back train so she could be able to walk and dance without tripping on her train. Thursday afternoon I shouted throughout the house "THE DRESS IS DONE!" She tried it on, and what do you know?

Beautiful, right? Well not as beautiful as when she wore it the day of her wedding! When her husband saw her in the dress, all he could say was "WOW!" When she stepped into the sun, she sparkled like the brightest diamond you ever saw. It was a success (and a miracle on such a short time!)

And they lived happily ever after!