This post is about bride Katy’s beautiful bespoke satin and lace appliqué mermaid style wedding dress worn at her wedding with husband Liam early last autumn.
In this post I shall show you Katy’s initial 1st toile. A toile is a calico prototype to check the fit and design for a bespoke wedding dress. Together with some work in progress shots too.
Katy came for an initial consultation well in advance of her wedding date. She had an idea of the sort of silhouette she would like to wear for her wedding dress. We looked at laces and fabrics and she chose a soft ivory satin for the main body of the dress, and a combination of two beaded laces for the appliqué. Being a fairly petite person, Katy did not want to feel swamped by her wedding dress shape. Together we came up with her beautiful satin and lace appliqué mermaid style wedding dress.
Katy said “I had some firm ideas about parts of my dress when I first came to Rachel, and she seamlessly helped pull them together and create the exact wedding dress I wanted.”
The initial toile and making of the dress:
This image above is the first toile for Katy’s wedding dress. I drafted the paper pattern for it using her measurements taken at her initial appointment and sewed it together in cotton calico. At this stage Katy had not tried it on yet. The toile is altered and remade during the initial stages with more fittings to make it fit perfectly. The fittings ensure all the design lines and features are in the right place to get the best look. For more about the bespoke wedding dress process have a look at this post.
Lace applique:
The base of the real dress is sewn in the satin fabric. I then cut out motifs from the ivory laces chosen by Katy ready to pin to her plain satin dress. You can see the motifs pinned to a notice board above. Katy wanted the lace positioning to be asymmetrical on her dress, as if the flowers had grown there.
Katy said “We even ended up cutting out each tiny piece of lace and placing them individually (!) which meant a huge amount of work for [Rachel] but she was nothing but enthusiastic about the idea!”
I sew all the appliqué by hand. It’s one of my favourite parts of making wedding dresses. I usually listen to a long audio book while I’m doing it! These images of Katy are from her 4th fitting and you can see the design is coming together.
Wedding Day
I was really happy with Katy’s bespoke wedding dress; I think she looks stunning in it!
Katy and Liam married at Somerley House and her wedding photos were taken by Helen Abraham Photography.
If you’re thinking about wearing a bespoke dress or outfit for your wedding day, please do get in touch, I’d love to hear from you.
