The bridesmaid’s dress for Kristin’s brother’s wedding is now complete! Here’s how it went:

First, we picked out the general style of dress she wanted:

 Note that we wanted knee-length instead of floor-length. She didn’t want the shiny fabric, either. She was looking for a “more vintage” look, and a little more “fullness” to add to her bust.

The color dictated to us was navy blue, and she wanted something with swiss dots. We found the PERFECT fabric, where the dots are actually a shiny navy, so it shines when it catches the light. With the idea and the perfect fabric, I had to figure out how to make a draped cowl halter! So with a little playing, I got this:

 

Not too impressive on the mannequin. (You’ll notice that big-butt lopsided mannequin is gone — the people making Elena’s dress needed it with the sample, so I had to replace it. This mannequin is even, but I’m going to miss Miss Lopsided!)

With this practice, though, I was able to decide what changes, etc. I needed to do. I thus altered the pattern and made … (drum roll)

THIS!

      

The quality of the pic isn’t great ‘cuz I had to get it off my video camera (the hubby and kids had gone to the park and taken all the other cameras with them!), and you can’t see the shine of the dots, but it looked great! If you look really closely, there’s a silver/rhinestone filigree clasp at the back of the neck for “bling” that will match the silver shoes she plans on wearing.

Oh, I didn’t tell you the shoe story!!!! You know of the brouhaha that went on with Elena’s dress shrinking — well, Kristin planned on wearing the silver shoes she’d bought for a wedding two years earlier.  She wanted to make sure they looked good with the dress, so she sent for them and brought them to the first fitting. Only then did she discover that she actually had two left shoes! (The reason why involves a lake, 7 identical bridesmaids outfits and a drunken pile, don’t ask for more detail — trust me.) Sooooo– she contacts other bridesmaids and found someone with a right shoe in the right size (she actually had two different sizes). She just contacted me from the States and says the girl bringing the shoe had lost her bag in flight!!!!!!

ANYWAY, I think the wedding is this week, she’s thrilled with the dress and has promised me pics from the actual wedding with her in it, so a success! My first “outing” as a designer! So, whaddya think?