Bridesmaid Dress!

Time for another instalment of wedding related business. As well as organising my fabulous hen do (which I know was a lot like herding cats), spending the entire first half of my wedding day repeating the mantra 'everything is ok, everything is fine' to me AND being generally incredibly supportive and amazing from the minute I told her I'd got engaged, she also performed the task of looking incredible as my wing-woman/bridesmaid.

Vic didn't even bat an eyelid when I flipped out and abandoned the initial plan I had for her bridesmaid dress about four weeks before the actual event. Instead she calmed me down and encouraged me to do some research and then talk through with her possible alternatives. When I'd come up with the  new plan and the sewing pattern I wanted to go for, she even bought it for me and got it sent to my flat so I could crack on. There is literally no one on earth who is capable of calming me down like Vic is. Whenever I have a super-busy day ahead or I'm going on a trip and she's around, she is amazing at helping me plan things out and making me feel I haven't forgotten anything. She's basically my unpaid, part-time PA!

I won't bore you with what might have been, instead I'll explain that I finally opted to use a vintage repro pattern, Simplicity 3673 (pictured below), as the basis for her bridesmaid dress. Bless Vic for believing me when I told her this pattern could yield suitably glamorous results. The basic elements were there: the flattering gentle scoop of a bateau neckline (a feature Vic loves), the bust gathers into an empire line waist, a potentially sleek silhouette and general overall mid-century vibe to reflect the feel of my own dress. I knew I wanted to make Vic something that should could wear again and I really wanted her to feel comfortable all day and night, so I chose this sateen-like black fabric from Borovicks fabric's, the same place I bought my wedding dress fabric. It is quite weighty with a nice body to it to create a sleek silhouette yet it has a decent elastane/lycra content to it so dancing, sitting and eating were also firmly on the cards for her!

I wasn't a massive fan of the lower section of this dress pattern, so I frankensteined the top detail with the pattern I used to make my coral dress and leopard Rockabilly dress, which I know fits Vic well. The tricky part lay in the fact that Vic and I live in different places so meeting up for fittings was a bit tricky. We were able to have a brief fitting on the weekend of my hen do which highlighted a couple of fit issues (too wide in the bodice under the arms and an excess of fabric at the CB at the upper back). I made those changes and crossed my fingers. Vic came down to Brighton a couple of weeks before the wedding for a second and final fitting and, thank goodness, it fit like a glove!

I left her to find a diamante brooch for the centre bow detail of her dress. I think she found this beauty on Etsy and it really couldn't have been more perfect. She chose these fabulous red shoes to reflect the roses in our bouquets. She did her own makeup and hair which looked absolutely stunning. Unfortunately you can't see it in these pictures, but the back of her hair was in a glamorous 1960's-esque bun using one of those hair donuts. Her makeup also reflected the early 1960's feel with black liquid eye liner flicks, fantastic false eyelashes and pale pink, almost nude lipstick.

I really can't thank Vic enough for her help as I made this weird change from being someone's girlfriend to someone's wife. She really has been the most awesome best-mate to me for the last 20-ish years, and this whole wedding-thing was all the more special because she was such a significant part of it.