Collecting Lace for a Wedding Dress

Lace

 

IMG_3387

 

Lace bodice

 

Lace booklet details

  Lace and pink ribbons

 

Lace french

 

Lace-currtain

While sitting at the kitchen table, the lace curtain spurred an idea.

“Wouldn’t that curtain make a lovely veil?” I asked the Bride-to-Be

“Nothing, not even the lace trim on my pillow case is sacred!” She sighed.

We are busy cutting, sewing, adding pearls, making lace rosette and soaking a lace curtain in tea.

Results will follow that is certain.

My Mother in Law is the head seamstress, Mimi is the living manniquin, a right hand sous chef you might say, as for me I am the  one hand bandit, the whip cracker, the go getter, and the one who says let’s use the lace curtain, let’s use nightgown’s lace edge, let’s put the lace here, and the rosette’s there.

We have been busy for days.

 

Wedding hong kong

 

What did you wear when you were married?

I wore my Grandmother’s wedding dress.



Comments

34 responses to “Collecting Lace for a Wedding Dress”

  1. Marie-Noëlle

    I had an outfit (short skirt and top in white silk taffeta + underskirt in Tulle netting + a jade bridal bolero) designed and made by a young stylist. It was her very first order.
    My wish : no veil, no hat.
    I would love to watch “les petites mains” while working hard !

  2. What lovely lace, Mimi will be a beautiful bride. You’re lucky to have your MIL’s hands.
    I wore a simple dress, with white tulips embroidered on the edge of the dress and veil.

  3. I made my wedding dress and really wanted a fabric with white background and red polka dots. I searched and searched for it, thought Britex Fabrics would have it, but never could find one. I settled on a pale banana yellow silk dupioni. It was very nice, but I still wish I had found a nice polka dot.

  4. I wore a beautiful wedding gown loaned to me
    by a friend that I worked with. She had worn
    it several years earlier…I could never had
    afforded such a lovely dress if I had to buy it
    myself, and I was so grateful. My best friend
    bought the gown several years later and wore it
    at her wedding. Next May I will celebrate fifty
    years of marriage. The years do seem to fly by.
    Jann

  5. I was married 13 years ago and wanted to look elegant and timeless like Grace Kelly, even though the trend was strapless. It was a 95 degree humid day in Chicago, but I wore my long sleeved silk organza dress made in England, a la Grace, and loved every minute of it. Enjoy every minute of Mim’s wedding, and the preparations for it! Many blessings…

  6. For my first marriage at 21 I wore a beautiful Edwardian cotton dress with white cotton embroidered flowers all over, leg-o-mutton sleeves and pearl buttons. It was so tiny and I still had to have it taken it (I’ll never see THAT size again!)
    Best of all…and you’ll love this Corey….I paid a mere $8 for it at an outdoor flea market in New Jersey. There it was, hanging from a tree, in perfect condition…waiting just for me! A friend made it smaller for me and with a wreath of daisies for my head I was all set. The “second time around” I wore a vintage looking prairie style long dress…I looked a bit like Ma Walton on Sunday 🙂 But we were married here at our farmhouse with a handful of friends so who needed to get gussied up?

  7. Denise Moulun-Pasek

    I can think of nothing more fun than what you three are doing! Your belle-mère is quite the jack-of-all-trades! I bet you two are sharing some lovely moments.
    I wore a handmade cream wool crepe skirt suit with antique silk satin binding provided by my belle-mère!

  8. Dear Corey,
    I can’t wait to see the gown! I have a strong hankering for lace and wanted to make a lace gown for my wedding (coming up in March 2012!). However, I bought a bolt of gorgeous silk jacquard a few years ago, and am having the gown made in it. Of course, lace will figure into the design in some fashion. It will be an elegant empire style with a short train, inspired by the fashions of Jane Austen’s era.

  9. My mother made my dress from a Vogue pattern. I loved it.

  10. this dress will truly be the most wonderful dress for the wedding. it is made with joy,happiness and love. what could be better. Bestest,Denise

  11. My husband and I eloped on Valentines Day many years ago. The day before, I bought an off the rack skirt and sweater set that were made from white angora !

  12. My grandma sewed my dress from a pattern I picked out. It was creme colored silk with pale pink lace. Can’t wait to see the veil when you ladies are finished. How fun!

  13. Nicolette

    My wedding dress speaks (loud) early 80’s. Ugh! How about those bridemaids dresses? I so apologize Corey.LOL.

  14. After a long search, I found my dress in a Bride’s magazine. Nothing else would do so I ordered it. It is off the shoulder necline with lots of beads and pearls sewn on the dress bodice and bottom of the skirt from knee down. The long skirt was slim and it had a detachable beautiful full train with more beads and pearls. It was a soft ivory color. The veil had a lovely headpiece and waist length net. I felt like a princes for a day. In my opinion all brides are beautiful on their wedding day. Enjoy, I’m sure your creation will be beautiful.

  15. I wore a simple white dress given to me by my future MIL and tiny flowers in my hair,which I really loved.
    The second time long dress in blue for a tiny ceremony of 10.
    Gave it away shortly after as I wanted to be done with weddings.
    I
    But your lacy veil! I love it.
    Cant wait to see it.
    BTW, I love the story about the wallpaper beats.

  16. I wore a halter dress with a chiffon overlay. The neckline was adorned with crystals and pearls. I loved my dress. It was so comfortable. I didn’t want to take it off when the night was over. I wore two veils. The first was a cathedral length veil and then I wore an elbow length veil with pearls over that. Oh, I loved my wedding day!

  17. Even back then, I was already a very sensible soul: Just a simple knee-length white linen sheath from Joseph Magnin’s, covered with an orange wool spring coat and paired with matching orange pumps and clutch purse — an outfit that wouldn’t attract attention en route to the court house, and that I could wear again.
    Corey, will you need a lace covering for your wrist brace? Even if not, perhaps you could wear lace gantlets or gloves, like K.T. Oslin???

  18. Britex — oooh Natalie, you’re giving me “saudades” for San Francisco!!! (If they don’t have a fabric, it probably doesn’t exist at that time).

  19. Lena was a wonderful older Italian woman with a very thick accent who lived down the street from us. We loved to go visit her and her husband. They had moved to California from Chicago where they had had a tailor shop. I wanted to make my dress-this was the late 60’s early 70’s-homemade and simple was my choice. It would be out of eyelet with long sleeves, a scoop neck and empire style. Lena was the one to go to for special details and help. It was such a fun time and I still can hear her talking-not always sure of what she was saying but knowing that it would be better than what we could come up with. I also made a Juliette cap out of left-over fabric and had ribbons with Babies-Breath flowers tied in small bunches all along them down the side of my face. I also had long straight hair-mid waist length and the ribbons were as long. July 2012 will be our 40th anniversary and I wouldn’t change very much about our wedding.
    I hope that you are enjoying this special time and the lace is so beautiful. Congratulations to all.

  20. I can’t wait to see this creation. I can only imagine it will be beautiful. I made my dress so very long ago. It was a beautiful thick satin with a lace top with long sleeves and covered buttons down the back. It was very simple, but very much me.

  21. I wore a simple dress that my sister picked out when we went shopping. It was actually on the bridesmaid’s rack but it was perfect. Very elegant… ivory…simple. I loved it and I love it still. It’s in my closet. I should donate it to charity but I just can’t part with it.

  22. My wedding dress was a long pale pale peach underlay with ivory lace over it. Sort of
    a combo hippie/victorian style with long sleeves and high neck. I loved it. I didn’t want to wear a veil but to please my mother I wore one handmade by a friend. They are up in my attic 38 years later. My daughter who got married last year, didn’t want to wear it (I don’t blame her). She opted for a very classic shantung silk strapless. I love weddings and can’t wait to see pictures of Mimi and her new FH.

  23. My mother made my wedding dress. It was so fun to wear it! I like your idea of using the lace curtain. it is going to be so lovely!

  24. Yep, good old Britex.
    I had to look “saudades” up on wikipedia. I’m sure Cory’s saucy cousin could have given me a few “definitions.”

  25. Hi Cousin Nicolette,
    I soooooooooo remember that dress!
    You looked beautiful is what I remember most!
    🙂

  26. I designed my own wedding dress in antique white silk. And I am proud to say I had a bodice made of lace all the way from France!

  27. I saw the dress I wanted the day after we announced our engagement. An untraditional off white evening dress that I would wear with just flowers in my hair and maybe alter for later use. Mum wasn’t as excited as me, so I agreed to go ‘bridal shopping’. At the bridal shop I was dressed in full regalia and the curtain was pulled back for my Mum to see. As soon as I saw the tears in her eyes I knew I was going to be a traditional bride.
    I then asked my fiance if he had any preferences for dresses. “Not really.” he replied. “As long as it’s white with a veil and you don’t wear it ever again.”
    Traditional it was. White satin, home made, neck-to-knee and plain as dictated by the fashion of the day.
    I kept it for years and eventually said good-bye to it this year, realising that with 3 sons, no-one was going to be using it again.

  28. Franca Bollo

    Repurposing the curtains … how very Scarlett O’Hara of you.

  29. Allison in SF

    Ahhhh, veils. So many of my friends have gone veil-less (a word?) and it makes me kind of sad. A veil is what makes a beautiful dress a “wedding” dress. Like your reader, Julie, I want to have two when it’s my turn to get married. A looooooooooong romantic lace one, the length of Maria Von Trapp’s in the Sound of Music for the church and a shorter one, yet still as beautiful, for the reception so I can dance the night away and not get stepped on 🙂

  30. Well, just as long as it’s not “very Carol Burnett” of her, Franca 😉

  31. Massilianana

    I wore a “smoking” (tuxedo?)with shiny black leather boots and blue critsal earrings and my hair loose.And my bride’s bouquet were sunflowers.All this in Manhattan City Hall .
    I can’t wait to see what you come up with this lacey bride dress. No doubt it will be stunning and romantic !

  32. I wore a white dress from the bridal shop — which suddenly sounds really boring compared to what you’re up to!

  33. Rebecca from the pacific northwest

    My blouse was a vintage blouse with deep Battenburg lace in the front … that I had push-pinned to the window frame for a curtain! I was praying, asking God about what would be a lovely, personal wedding dress for me, when I refocused on the window, and there was that “curtain”. Soon to be wedding blouse!
    It was very sheer linen so I stitched in a lining, hand-sewed because I thought it deserved only hand stitches to match the old.
    My mother made a very simple long, heavy silk skirt for me to wear. She had made my two sisters’ (far more traditional and fussy) wedding dresses, so it was wonderful to have Mom make something for me too. She finished it days before going in for a complete mastectomy for breast cancer.
    She and Dad walked me down the aisle a month later, and we all three loved it.

  34. mariakajsa

    I loved your fiance’s remark “As long as its white and you don’t wear it again.”
    After spending a great deal on our daughters dress and thinking she will only wear it once, I can now let go and celebrate the sacredness of wearing her dress once.Thank you.

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