C A R Y N
Caryn and I have been friends for years- I think she was a little nervous to ask me to make her a dress. She knows I throw myself into these projects to a bit of an extreme. After a day of dress shopping together I gave up and said I'll just make the dress...
The wedding location was in Philly with a bit of an art deco flare. I love art deco motifs and HAD to use them in my design. here are some of my initial sketches.
quick pencil sketches
Caryn chose the dress on the bottom left with the star next to it. I might have nudged her a bit, but because I love her lots and have known her for so many years it just felt like the right dress for her. I drew the motif artwork, then hand beaded mock ups of the motif to help us select beads and sequins that we would use in the final dress.
mock up in progress
mock up for visual reference of technique
once the mock up was made and we landed the motif, bead and sequin colors and embroidery techniques, I draped the pattern. we fitted a muslin, aligned on basic placement for the motifs on body, and then it was time to go!!
Progress was slow and steady. Here are the highlights...
cleaning up the loose ends
the skirt before closing up the darts
darts closed!
all the pieces ready for final pinning and fitting before stitching the beaded overlay to the base of the dress
Finally I was ready to do the final fitting! A few little touch ups and then, VOILA!
