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1950’s short wedding dress

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seaside bride white wedding dress made to measure

Aine commissioned a 1950’s short wedding dress made up in white taffeta.

Wedding photography by Michael Dillon

The dress has a fitted and boned bodice with square shaped neckline and invisible zip back closure. The flared, knee length skirt has soft white tulle peeking out below. I decorated both the waistline and neckline with white and silver lace and hand beading with Swarovski diamante details. Aine’s veil was also made to order.

wedding portrait square vneck boned bodice dress

Aine’s veil was a simple elbow length veil with two tiers, made from white tulle. It was finished with a plain cut edge and a thread of silver to match the silver detailing on her dress.

traditional wedding veil with blusher
short wedding dress and veil made to measure
bride arrives with bridesmaids in black dresses
just married 1950's wedding dress with tulle frill
aine19 silhouette kiss short knee length wedding dress
bride on the rocks short wedding dress
hand applique and beading to wedding dress
bodice detail scalloped lace edging and diamante

Hand beaded lace details for a 1950’s short wedding dress

I emphasised t he neckline and waistline of Aine’s dresswith delicate white and silver scalloped lace. I added tiny silver seed beads, bugle beads, Swarovski crystals and diamante stones by hand to really make Aine sparkle on her wedding day.

gathered tulle petticoat frill and kitten heel shoes
holding hands white wedding dress lace scalloped edging
bride sitting with full circle skirt and tulle frill
custom bespoke wedding dress with hand beaded detail
woodland bride demure tea length dress

Original design sketch

original design sketch by Felicity Westmacott
just married 1950's wedding dress with tulle frill
square neckline wedding dress hand beading detail
short wedding dress bespoke with straps

I have made 1950’s style wedding dresses for quite a few other bride as well. I made this dress in a traditional style, like a Grace Kelly dress. And this blog post includes a dipdye version of a 1950’s short wedding dress too

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Felicity Westmacott

I write about all aspects of weddings, dressmaking, fashion history, and the human relation to clothing. I welcome comments and debate.

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follow me on instagram@felicitywestmacott

@kathykyle_studio is a local artist who walked into my shop one day and asked me to make her a dress. She`s a textile artist, and she was having a launch party for her latest collection, and wanted something extra special for the occasion.

Kathy makes wearable art. She paints beautiful, intricate designs and has her designs printed onto silk scarves. Her pieces are full of meaningful motifs about feminism, life and so much more.

Making this dress was such a wonderful collaboration. Kathy created a new design (5m x 1.5m in size) to be printed onto fabric, and brought me a vintage pattern she wanted to use. The pattern was actually reversable, with options for both a V-neck and boat neck. It was very cool to see Kathy switching her dress round for each part of her launch day.

I love working with fellow artists!

#dorking #surrey #textileart #bespokedress #customdress #printedfabric

31 12
Open
@kathykyle_studio is a local artist who walked into my shop one day and asked me to make her a dress. She's a textile artist, and she was having a launch party for her latest collection, and wanted something extra special for the occasion. Kathy makes wearable art. She paints beautiful, intricate designs and has her designs printed onto silk scarves. Her pieces are full of meaningful motifs about feminism, life and so much more. Making this dress was such a wonderful collaboration. Kathy created a new design (5m x 1.5m in size) to be printed onto fabric, and brought me a vintage pattern she wanted to use. The pattern was actually reversable, with options for both a V-neck and boat neck. It was very cool to see Kathy switching her dress round for each part of her launch day. I love working with fellow artists! #dorking #surrey #textileart #bespokedress #customdress #printedfabric

Here are just some of my creations from the past year! I feel so lucky to get to make such interesting and varied garments as my job 🥰 colourful wedding dresses, unique mother of the bride ensembles, as well as alterations to make a dress feel more like home.

If you used my services (as a bride specifically) between Oct 1st 2024 up until now, I have a little favour to ask...
I`ve been nominated for the 2026 Wedding Industry Awards, in the "Independent Dressmaker/Designer" category and the people in the time period above are the only ones who are eligible to vote for me.

So, if you have a spare few minutes, and you enjoyed both working with me and the outcome, then you can vote for me via the link in my bio. There are different voting links depending on whether you were a bespoke or dipdye booking, or an alteration booking.

Industry recognition is one thing, but recognition from the people I work with is even better 💜
(and if you`ve already voted for me, thank you!! It means the world!)

21 0
Open
Here are just some of my creations from the past year! I feel so lucky to get to make such interesting and varied garments as my job 🥰 colourful wedding dresses, unique mother of the bride ensembles, as well as alterations to make a dress feel more like home. If you used my services (as a bride specifically) between Oct 1st 2024 up until now, I have a little favour to ask... I've been nominated for the 2026 Wedding Industry Awards, in the "Independent Dressmaker/Designer" category and the people in the time period above are the only ones who are eligible to vote for me. So, if you have a spare few minutes, and you enjoyed both working with me and the outcome, then you can vote for me via the link in my bio. There are different voting links depending on whether you were a bespoke or dipdye booking, or an alteration booking. Industry recognition is one thing, but recognition from the people I work with is even better 💜 (and if you've already voted for me, thank you!! It means the world!)

It`s giving bridal Sun Goddess 🌞 Just look at that colour!

One of my favourite bespoke wedding dresses to date. I made this opulent bronze gold look for an equally gorgeous bride who wanted something a little different for her wedding day.

My favourite features have got to be the statement bow on the shoulder and the cartridge pleats around the waist. This style of pleating helped add volume to this unbelievable iridescent dupion silk. Cartridge pleating was popular in the first Elizabethan era and always gives a touch of the historical to any garment on which it`s included.

I also included a bustle hook (you can see what the dress looks like up in the last clip), which totally transforms the dress and makes it much easier to move in when it`s time to dance!

This is bride was a dream client - elegant and adventurous, with a touch of the dramatic 😉 drop me a DM if you`ve got wedding dress dreams that you`re dying to bring to life!

#weddingdress #ukbride #bespokeweddingdress #bridetobe

27 4
Open
It's giving bridal Sun Goddess 🌞 Just look at that colour! One of my favourite bespoke wedding dresses to date. I made this opulent bronze gold look for an equally gorgeous bride who wanted something a little different for her wedding day. My favourite features have got to be the statement bow on the shoulder and the cartridge pleats around the waist. This style of pleating helped add volume to this unbelievable iridescent dupion silk. Cartridge pleating was popular in the first Elizabethan era and always gives a touch of the historical to any garment on which it's included. I also included a bustle hook (you can see what the dress looks like up in the last clip), which totally transforms the dress and makes it much easier to move in when it's time to dance! This is bride was a dream client - elegant and adventurous, with a touch of the dramatic 😉 drop me a DM if you've got wedding dress dreams that you're dying to bring to life! #weddingdress #ukbride #bespokeweddingdress #bridetobe

I thought it would be fun to see the differences between various bridal petticoats and hoop skirts. Meet the Aurora wedding dress, she`s one of my favourites, especially because of the excellent dramatic vibes she gives. So she felt like the perfect dress to experiment with.

The Aurora dress already has some layers of netting built into the dress, so she`s already got a bit of volume from the get go. But I wanted to see what difference adding more underlayers would have.

The first addition was a single hoop skirt. Hoop skirts come in all sorts of variations - the single hoop is pretty much what it sounds like. There`s a single hoop at the bottom of the skirt, translating into more width at the bottom of the dress.

Then I took off the hoop skirt, and put on a 5-layer petticoat. This thing is a monster! But adds so much more airy, fluffy volume.

The second hoop skirt I tried was a bell hoop skirt. This one has hoops built in all the way up the skirt, creating more of a...you guessed it...bell shape.

And then finally, for the ultimate princess vibes, I tried both the 5-layer petticoat and the bell hoop skirt together. It`s giving fairy tale bride, for sure. Perfect for twirling in whilst you dance with your prince, princess or princep.

When ordering a dress from me, talking about what kind of silhouette you want is really useful. And I`ve got loads of seamstress secrets to achieve pretty much anything you can imagine!

#weddingdress #dipdyeweddingdress #seamstress #pinkweddingdress #princessweddingdress #balloonsleeves

53 3
Open
I thought it would be fun to see the differences between various bridal petticoats and hoop skirts. Meet the Aurora wedding dress, she's one of my favourites, especially because of the excellent dramatic vibes she gives. So she felt like the perfect dress to experiment with. The Aurora dress already has some layers of netting built into the dress, so she's already got a bit of volume from the get go. But I wanted to see what difference adding more underlayers would have. The first addition was a single hoop skirt. Hoop skirts come in all sorts of variations - the single hoop is pretty much what it sounds like. There's a single hoop at the bottom of the skirt, translating into more width at the bottom of the dress. Then I took off the hoop skirt, and put on a 5-layer petticoat. This thing is a monster! But adds so much more airy, fluffy volume. The second hoop skirt I tried was a bell hoop skirt. This one has hoops built in all the way up the skirt, creating more of a...you guessed it...bell shape. And then finally, for the ultimate princess vibes, I tried both the 5-layer petticoat and the bell hoop skirt together. It's giving fairy tale bride, for sure. Perfect for twirling in whilst you dance with your prince, princess or princep. When ordering a dress from me, talking about what kind of silhouette you want is really useful. And I've got loads of seamstress secrets to achieve pretty much anything you can imagine! #weddingdress #dipdyeweddingdress #seamstress #pinkweddingdress #princessweddingdress #balloonsleeves
emailme@felicitywestmacott.co.ukTEL 07762 543230TOUCHGet in
from design to completionbespoke wedding dressesFelicity Westmacott
Dorking, RH4 1RT241 High Street• Visit the Studio •
Dorking, RH4 1RT241 High Street• Visit the Studio •
emailme@felicitywestmacott.co.ukTEL 07762 543230TOUCHGet in