Bridesmaid Dresses: the final product

In case you're arriving at this post from a link on pinterest or elsewhere, it's part of a series in which I documented the creation of bridesmaid dresses for my wedding. In total, it was about an 18 month project (from asking the bridesmaids to getting married). To see the whole bridesmaid dress creation sequence (dress design, dress assembly, and the finishing touches/fine details), go back to the first post in this series (click here). Here is the finished product!

Our wedding was fairly traditional. We got married in a church and had the reception at a country club. The dresses were perfect for our wedding, and I just LOVED the vivid colors. They turned out really well, and they looked especially good on the dance floor for twirling with their full skirts!

I asked each girl to incorporate a silk gladiolus flower into her hair (separate post coming on these flowers). I asked them to wear their hair in an updo because 1) late June is hot!, and 2) I wanted the criss-crossed back to show. The bridesmaid flowers were white roses with gladiolus in their color incorporated for a pop of color. I asked everyone to just wear silver strappy shoes of their choice, and to be honest, I wasn't looking at anyone's shoes! I had six bridesmaids and two bridal assistants. I'll have a separate post on my bridal assistants. I asked them to wear periwinkle/indigo to go with the color scheme.

Please feel free to pin or share these pictures, but make sure our awesome photographer's name remains associated in the captions. Our photographer was excellent, and you can check out his other work here.

Photo Credit: Sean Marshall Lin

Photo Credit: Sean Marshall Lin

Assembling my bridesmaid dresses

This is the third post in a series on my bridesmaid dresses. Click here to see the first and link to the rest :)

I put together the bodice and lining and then double checked each girl's measurements before attaching the skirt. Since the skirt was all one piece (except where I had cut the circle to insert the zipper and back seam), any bodice alterations after attaching the skirt required removal of the skirt. The skirt did not have side seams. I saved attaching the straps for my bridal shower weekend, when everyone flew in and could try on their dresses. Only one dress required major alterations (removing the skirt and zipper), which wasn't too bad.

Here is a short sequence of dress assembly pictures!

Bodices sewn, straps pinned into place, back pinned
shut, lining complete except back; yellow, pink (red),
purple, and blue dresses.

Bridesmaid Dresses

I've fallen off the radar for the past year as I prepared for my wedding and completed my PhD. Now I can share all the things I created for the wedding since they're not a secret anymore!

First, the most exciting and biggest project of all: the bridesmaid dresses. Since this was an 18 month project, I'll break it into smaller posts over the next few days :)

Please note: the photos shown above were assembled from our professional wedding photos.
Photo credit: Sean Marshall Lin

The Color Scheme
Our wedding was fairly traditional. We got married in a church and had the reception at a country club. I used a rainbow color scheme for my wedding. Everything--invitations, place cards, memorial candles, programs, etc. followed this color scheme, but the table linens were all white. The flowers also turned out great--the girls had white roses with gladiolus in their respective colors. Some of the colors didn't exist naturally, so I dyed silk flowers (another post to follow) to match, and the florist incorporated them in with the live white roses.

I chose the rainbow color scheme for two reasons: 1) I just love colors and couldn't imagine choosing only one, and 2) My parents had a rainbow color scheme for their wedding.

Designing bridesmaid dresses

Since the bridesmaid dresses were an 18 month project, I've broken this into smaller posts. This is the second, here's the first (summary) post!

Choosing the Dress Design
I modified the typical choose a bridesmaid dress routine—bride chooses a bunch of dresses she likes, bridesmaids tell her which they like/dislike, new ones enter the field, bridesmaids try them on and email each other pictures, etc. I decided to use pinterest for this part of the procedure. I created a shared pinterest board between all my bridesmaids and asked them to pin their favorite dresses with minimal guidance from me. They knew I was looking for short/knee length and not strapless. I did have two other features in mind, but I didn't want to sway them before I got a sense of their tastes. We commented on them, etc., until I felt ready to design a dress. I feel like this was a really good way to choose a dress, and even if you're not designing your own, it would be a good way to make sure you don't choose something anyone hates/that you do choose something your girls will like.

How to choose a bridesmaid dress

Fun with straps #1

My fiance graduated from medical school last weekend, so I made two new dresses for the occasion! I had fun making creative straps for both of them.

For this first dress, I used Simplicity 5498 (out of print, the first dress I ever made) with a few sizing alterations--I took it in at the back seams connecting the side pieces to the back panels and in the center front as well. The dress has princess seams and flares out at the bottom, giving it a mermaid shape. I used a thick fabric with some stretch to it, so it was really comfortable. The fabric has been in my stash for a long time, so I'm not sure what it's made from or where I bought it.

Fun with straps dress #1

Black and white polka dots!

My apologies for the blurry picture--my camera is broken,
so this is the best I got... this is the bride with her bridesmaids,
all wearing black and white (by chance)!

This dress has been in the works for nearly a year. I actually finished it in early August, wore it twice and took pictures, and have been too busy to get it on the blog! Anyway, I made this dress for a friend's rehearsal dinner, but I cheated and wore it on vacation in August first. 

All our outfits for the weekend ready to go to the car--you can
see the knotted straps best in this picture, so I included it

Two weddings in one day? No problem

My friend and my fiance's cousin got married on the same day, so I made a reversible dress! I wore the pink side to the first wedding (a lunch reception) and the teal side to the second wedding (a dinner reception). The only problem was that the stretch satin was not stretchy enough, so I required a lot of assistance getting the dress on and off.

I love the twisted straps (my hair is kinda in the
way, but see the hint of teal flashing through?)

The pink side

The teal side

The only picture I have of the back...

This is Burda Style 05/11 #107D, called "Sex appeal" in the magazine. My fiance complained that none of my dresses that I make are fitted, so here you go! A fitted dress.


The pattern runs really big (it's like they forgot it was supposed to be made out of stretchy fabric) I made it out of ribbed jersey first, and it fit like a paper bag (I'll post that one when I take pictures). I spent forever altering it, and I ended up taking out an entire foot (6 inches/side), and it doesn't really fit right in the middle front or back. So for this one, I took out about two inches from the middle front, two inches from the middle back, and two inches per side, knowing that the stretch satin wasn't quite as stretchy as the ribbed knit. I guess that was a little too much, though, because I can't get it on and off myself. Also, the front pattern piece is a big C that you gather along the long side to make it straight. Directly under the bust, however, has no crosswise stretch, just to warn you!


I made the pink side a tiny bit longer than the teal so it shows a little bit--I did that on purpose so both sides weren't peeking out on both sides of the dress. I haven't gone around and tacked the hems together yet.

Sexy date dress

I love love love the coffee date dress pattern (well once I altered it). I've made a dress from this pattern before--before I started my blog--I'll share that with you when I post the details of my June sew along. 


I decided to take the dress up a notch and made it out of black satin. It's something polyester, so even though I loved the fabric when I first got it, I got frustrated with it pretty quickly. Still, I think it turned out nice! The dress definitely benefits from a belt, so I chose red... and my new three inch heels that are actually comfortable and walkable. Here's the final product (you have to click read more to see the rest of the pictures)!

Easter Eggs!

My roommate and I dyed Easter eggs tonight, so I wanted to share our creativity here :) Here's our egg dyeing experience, somewhat step by step:

Happy Valentine's Day!

I just had to post our terrific Valentine's Day dinner. I went to my fiance's for Valentine's Day weekend. We cooked rainbow trout over a bed of sauteed greens (kale and mustard greens) with garlic and mushrooms with potatoes on the side. We just boiled the potatoes and then seasoned them afterwards with olive oil, salt, pepper, and hot pepper flakes.

We also had Yellow Tail Shiraz/Grenache blend to drink. Yes, it's red, but I like red, even if we're eating fish. Unfortunately my cold medicine didn't get along too well with the wine, and I ended up in bed by 10pm after eating some pudding.

Mom's Christmas dress

I forgot to take a picture when my mom actually wore this on Christmas. I made her the dress (from Burda Style magazine, 09/10 109B--the same dress as my announcement dress). I followed the pattern almost exactly with my mom's size, but I added the sash to tie in the back like I did with mine.

My mom got these navy blue suede boots earlier in the fall, and I knew she would never wear them since she didn't have anything to wear them with. I made her this dress to go with the boots. I also bought her gray leggings to match.

She wore the dress again out to dinner on new year's, but she couldn't find the leggings (I guess they were in the laundry), so the outfit is not complete in these pictures, but it's ok... still looks good!

Christmukkah

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First, let me apologize for my computer's inability to handle pictures right now. A lot of these posts are a little overdue, but oh well.

My roommate and I hosted a Christmas/Hanukkah party a while back (I guess the first Friday of Hanukkah). Well, really it was more like a Hannukkah party one night followed by a Christmas cookie party the next, since we were a little overambitious. I'll make it all one post, though. There are recipes included!

The announcement dress

This is the dress I made to announce my engagement at Thanksgiving to some extended family. It was my first Burda Style pattern (09/10 #109B), and it turned out great! Unfortunately, the September patterns aren't posted on the website, so I can't link to it. The only thing I changed from the pattern were two strips coming out the sides to tie in the back for shape/decoration.

It's a simple tunic look dress made from crepe-backed satin. I didn't actually use crepe-backed satin, I used a thicker regular satin and the reverse side of that fabric. And the best part of the fabric is that it has some stretch to it!

Yes, I do realize my face looks ridiculous in this picture, but I thought it was the best one of the dress.