Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Bridesmaid Dress Joy . . .

Courtesy We Heart It

As many of you know, right now in my house it is All Wedding All the Time. it seems like every day there is some small decision being made, inspiration being consulted, detail being discussed  . . . and as MOH and amateur wedding coordinator, I am in on a lot of those things. But, there is one thing which is pretty much just mine, and that is my dress. Tab told me what color she wanted (Aubergine), and that it had to be formal (no arguments here), and then said she trusted my judgement. Since I'm the one who turned her from tomboy into fashionista, I would hope so;)

 I thought I was sold on something from Love by Enzoani, until I took a look at my finances, and realized I had to halve my $300 bridesmaid dress budget. I hadn't wanted to make the dress myself, but once I formally made the choice to do so, my brain had a little happy fart and started racing with all the possibilities. Then, I saw this beyond-fabulous dress from Jenny Packham, fell in love, and that was that.

Naturally, the neckline is a little risque for my sister's wedding. I refuse to wear something that requires dress tape in order to be decent. However, the crossed front and beautiful charmeuse are absolute loves, and I immediately went on the hunt for the proper pattern to adapt. I got several Vogue patterns that would need varying degrees of redesign in order to work, but this morning I found this one on clearance:

It's made for a knit, but if I put in a hidden side zipper on my silk charmeuse, it should be fine. I'm kind of excited to start it, but I have to hold off until September or so, or it won't be the right size. I think I'll bead the neck strap like the Packham dress and use a vintage brooch in the front where the fabric crosses.

What do you think, dear readers? Like my final choice for bridesmaid dress?

6 comments:

Chrisy said...

Oh sweet Ginger! What a magnificent choice...you were meant to get that pattern! Can't wait to see the final result...

Kimba said...

FANTASTIC!!!!

Anonymous said...

Great choice! Fitted in all the right places, but flowing enough so that you can eat and dance in it comfortably. Love the open back! I wonder if there would be a way to hide the zipper underneath the gathers instead of putting in a side zipper. (I always hate side zippers because I can never twist myself around enough to actually zip them myself unless the dress is a size too big.) If you use a synthetic charmeuse instead of silk, maybe it would have enough stretch so as not to have to include a zipper at all. I've not actually worked with it so I don't know how much stretch "stretch satin" actually has.

Ginger said...

No synthetics for me! I always try to use real silk when I can, and since this needs to be dyed, it needed to be natural fibers;)
I don't foresee huge problems with the side zipper; my only concern is with hiding it well enough!

plaisirs simples said...

love these vogue patterns!! i prefer short bridesmaids dresses but thats just me!

Mimi and Tilly said...

It's a fab choice. I love it.