About me - felicitY Westmacott
Photo by Paola de Paola Photography
Biography of a bespoke wedding dress maker
I have been sewing professionally for more than 20 years, specialising in bespoke wedding dresses since 2006. In 2004 I graduated from Wimbledon College of Art with a BA(Hons) in Costume design.
My family observes that I'm never seen without a needle. For my work I make beautiful and individual bespoke wedding dresses and on holiday I do cross stitch!
I live with my spouse and three lovely children, working from my studio-shop on Dorking High street.
To see more of my work visit my portfolio of real brides.
Art and Painting
I love painting; with still life of flowers and reflective surfaces being favourite subjects I return to again and again. I actually really dislike figurative work, though faces and portraits interest me. So you’ll notice my dress designs for bespoke wedding dresses are very simple, with no body parts involved!
Board games and computer games
If you’re ‘in’ to board games you will recognise and appreciate my taste for ‘proper games’. I loved Monopoly, Hero Quest and Risk as a child but I’m so glad better games were invented that don’t rely on dice rolling! My favourites include Dominion, Smallworld, Wingspan and Samurai.
I also loved computer games growing up. I played all the way through the ‘Commander Keen’ series and later enjoyed many many games of Civilisation, Theme Hospital and Theme Park on the PC. When I gained a husband and a playstation other games became available to me including Super Monkey Ball and Katamari Damacy.
the other interests of a bespoke wedding dress maker
Language and more
I’m very much a book worm and much prefer the printed page to reading online articles. I have a very high reading speed and devour the written word, both novels and non-fiction.
My mind is a bottomless well for acquiring new and interesting facts. I love connecting with people who can expand my knowledge more into my areas of interest. Or show me new avenues to explore. Linguistics and anthropology are some subjects that interest me particularly. I’ve had passing flirtations with economics and psychology too.
Garden and nature
I love my little garden though I rarely get as much time out there as I would like. My work, making bespoke wedding dresses is very seasonal. So my busiest time crosses over with when the garden needs me most.
My vegetable patch has ebbed and waned with each new baby usurping any spare time I might gain. But I love growing herbs and things to eat as well as flowers. I grow red-currants and make my own jelly.
May is a good time of year in my garden: my happy place.
If you feel a connection with me and my interests enquire today about starting the design process for your bespoke wedding dress.
Aerial Hoop
I started attending aerial hoop classes at a local studio, My Body Rocks in Reigate in 2022. I love gaining strength and flexibility and sometimes learning graceful moves as well!
Below I perform one of the simplest positions, the very first people learn at a beginner class, but with my friend Lauren Croucher on the hoop as well it looks spectacular. It is called a Delilah.
Advancing to moves on the top of the hoop and in the 'strop' shows the progress I have made in three years practice. Below is a 'chest stand' and I am wearing a custom unitard by Shelley of Cirquewear by Shelley
Bright Apple photography
After just nine months at the studio I took part in my first photoshoot with Bright Apple Photography . It's a really good idea to document even the start of your journey as then you can later really see the gains you are making. Below two pictures from the first photoshoot, showing a 'double leg cradle' and a 'clothes-line' poses.
The image cella
The other pictures are from my most recent hoop shoot in July 2024 with the Image Cella. This shoot wasn't the first time I've posed for Simon as he started in wedding photography and has not only taken pictures of some of my client's weddings but also collaborated with me on wedding dress photoshoots.
The Path to making Bespoke Wedding Dresses
Sewing and fashion are threads that run deep into my life history.
My first memory of sewing is at just over four years old, on the floor of my mother's sewing room, making a doll's dress (which I still have). I sewed at home for fun, at Brownies for badges, at school for GSCE and A-level, fashion shows and for my friends' Leavers' Ball dresses.
2004 at the Henley Royal Regatta in a dress and hat I made myself
At the age of fifteen I joined the National Youth Theatre's costume department and sewed through six summer holidays in dusty theatre wardrobes and back stage. While I was at art college my mother and I ran a small shop on Reigate High Street called ‘Lothlorien’. We sold clothes and jewellery we made ourselves and craft items from other local artisans.
above: 'Lothlorien' in Reigate, Surrey 2000-2001
In my early twenties I designed and sewed hundreds of costumes for a Yorkshire based Youth theatre 'Livewire'. At university (Wimbledon School of Art) I purposefully took the design, not sewing, course to push my research and design skills. I felt I could already sew!
While at university I got the bug for bridal wear by working part time for a wedding dress shop in Reigate as their alterations lady. After graduating I worked briefly in film and television before concentrating on making bespoke wedding dresses.
above: on my last day at 'Amante' wedding dress shop in Reigate 2008, with Liz the owner who has been so supportive and encouraging during my career and is still a dear friend.
Moving into new premises
I have been working from home for most of my working life, but in 2021 we decided as a family we needed more space. With three children and my business (as well as ourselves) our three bedroom home was beginning to feel quite tight! We considered moving house but with the children settled at school it seemed a better idea to look to move my business to a new space.
Fittings in my previous space took place in our living room, with a lovely big mirror.
My sewing room was quite small, and difficult to keep tidy when I was busy.
Photography by @thealtweddingco and @rachelmillsphotography
I got the keys to my new shop premises on Dorking High Street in April 2022 and moved in six months later after extensive renovations.
I gained so much space. Not only a workshop area four times the size of my old workroom at home, but also a retail area with seating for consultations, two fitting rooms and a huge basement area where I keep my pride and joy, a 4m long cutting out table!
The same big mirror from my home is now in pride of place in my main fitting room. The mirror used to belong to my grandmother. She as a professional dancer and used it for dance practice at home.
Below: my new sewing room where I create all your beautiful dresses.
home, work and family life
I live in Surrey with my wonderful and supportive spouse who is a computer programmer. We have three delightful children who were trained young to bring me the pins they find all around the house. They are all very patient with my work making bespoke wedding dresses. With many fittings at weekends and in the evening it’s tricky sometimes to balance work and family life.
My splendid family. A portrait taken in 2018 with baby just 2 months old!
Photo by Kevin Day
costume history
My fascination with costume history began when colouring in photocopied pages from my mother’s costume history books. Books she’d enjoyed herself as a child. My mother made many historical costumes for her large collection of Barbie dolls, which my sister and I gained access to when we successively turned eight. My mother’s miniature Elizabethan and Tudor creations were truly exquisite. And the 1950’s and 60’s commercial doll’s clothes that came to us were so much more beautiful and well made than those sold in the shops at the time.
Historical barbie costumes made by my mother when she was a child. They are Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Queen Elizabeth I
above: 18th century costume designs for 'Our Country's Good', a university project.
The award winning and well known costume designer, Jenny Beavan is a family friend. I was lucky enough to live with her for 4 summers in my teenage years, while I worked at the National Youth theatre. I watched her work on designs for the films ‘Ever After’ and ‘Possession’ while I lived at her house in London. She kindly tempered my youthful arrogance with wise words of advice. Jenny helped me to think about my possible career in costume optimistically but with realism. And she has been supportive ever since!
theatre
My love of theatre extends far beyond the costumes. I love to watch plays and feel very lucky to live so close to the culture epicentre that is London. I am a member of a small but very prolific local amateur theatre in the nearby town of Horley. The Archway Theatre, built under the arches of Horley station’s railway bridge, produces 10+ productions a year on two stages. I have designed and made costumes on occasion but mostly participate on stage.
My favourite roles with Archway, and at other theatres, have included Elaine in ‘The Graduate’, ‘Lotty’ in ‘Enchanted April’ and Sybil in ‘Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime’. I also regularly appear in Shakespeare plays with The Polesden Lacy Shakespeare Company. Until 2019 they produced outdoor, traditional but groundbreaking productions of well loved Shakespeare plays.
Below you can see me in
Home I'm Darling -as Judy 2024 Archway Theatre
Sunset at Villa Thalia -as Charlotte 2022 Archway Theatre
Love's Labour's Lost -as Moth 2019 Polesden Lacy Shakespeare
Enchanted April -as Lottie 2017 - Archway Theatre
The Winter's Tale -as Paulina 2012 Archway Theatre
The Taming of the Shrew -as Biana 2010 Polesden Lacy Shakespeare
Passing out Parade -as Jenkins 2009 Archway Theatre
A Midsummer's Night's Dream' -as a fairy. 2009 Polesden Lacy Shakespeare
Lord Arthur Saville's crime -as Sybil 2008 KADDS, Kingswood
Saucy Jack and the space vixens
In 2023 I directed 'Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens' at the Archway Theatre. This is a musical I saw in one of it's original productions at tne Edinburgh festival in the late 1990's. I fell in love with it's sexiness and vibrant score. It was a wonderful fulfilment to bring my own version to life and to have such a wonderful cast and crew help me do so.
Photos below by Mark Dobson
Costume design
Though I actively prefer treading the boards myself as my main hobby, I am occasionally persuaded to help design and make costumes for shows I am involved with. Below are a few creations worn by wonderful characters from shows across the years. These include, Dracula, Hamlet (In Japan), Much Ado ABout Nothing, The Importance of Being Ernest, Private Lives, King Arthur, Pride and Prejudice and Twelfth Night.
teaching
In 2016 I taught a summer course at London School of Fashion. The project was run by ‘The Muslin Trust’ a charity seeking to raise the profile of traditionally woven cotton muslin fabrics called ‘Jamdani’ from Bangladesh. The course ran for 10 weeks with young people aged 15-21 learning about the history of Regency fashion, historical construction techniques and the continuing production of the muslin fabrics. The students designed and produced, entirely by hand, two Regency dresses using Jamdani fabrics. The dresses were showcased and exhibited around the world.
In 2017 I started running small sewing classes with colleagues Sarah Fenn and Beth Moody. Under the name ‘Reigate School of Sewing’ we run 6-8 week dressmaking courses for beginners and improvers. We also run stand alone ‘Learn to use a Sewing Machine’ classes for total newbies and for those needing to gain confidence again after some time away from sewing.
If you're new to dressmaking and looking to buy a suitable sewing machine check out my blog post on 'Sewing Machines for Beginners'
From these two small forays into teaching I find I have a real love of, and some skill at, imparting my own knowledge to others. I hope one day to take on an apprentice and be able to pass on my knowledge of making bespoke wedding dresses.
teaching
In 2016 I taught a summer course at London School of Fashion. The project was run by ‘The Muslin Trust’ a charity seeking to raise the profile of traditionally woven cotton muslin fabrics called ‘Jamdani’ from Bangladesh. The course ran for 10 weeks with young people aged 15-21 learning about the history of Regency fashion, historical construction techniques and the continuing production of the muslin fabrics. The students designed and produced, entirely by hand, two Regency dresses using Jamdani fabrics. The dresses were showcased and exhibited around the world.
In 2017 I started running small sewing classes with colleagues Sarah Fenn and Beth Moody. Under the name ‘Reigate School of Sewing’ we run 6-8 week dressmaking courses for beginners and improvers. We also run stand alone ‘Learn to use a Sewing Machine’ classes for total newbies and for those needing to gain confidence again after some time away from sewing.
If you're new to dressmaking and looking to buy a suitable sewing machine check out my blog post on 'Sewing Machines for Beginners'
From these two small forays into teaching I find I have a real love of, and some skill at, imparting my own knowledge to others. I hope one day to take on an apprentice and be able to pass on my knowledge of making bespoke wedding dresses.
Early connections with the Wedding Industry
I grew up with parents who changed jobs and moved house every 3-5 years throughout my childhood. Though we were always living in and around the Reigate/ Horley/ Gatwick area. My father loves setting up new businesses and making plans, but not so much the everyday slog of running them. So there was always a new project on the horizon and another reason to move on!
The Parks Young family in 1991, I am bottom right.
One of their enterprises was running a country house hotel, just outside Charlwood, in Surrey. The 16 bedroom house was owned by my grandfather, and had been built by his grandfather, truly a family mansion. My parents started out running the house as a bed and breakfast but quickly progressed to hoteling. They found weddings were the best way to make the house financially viable.
Stanhill Court in the snow 1987. My bedroom was the third upstairs window from the right which was always traditionally the nursery.
Unfortunately this discovery could not prevent the 1991 financial crash from pulling the rug from under their feet. As a result the business collapsed and the house was sold out of the family.
above: Inside Stanhill Court when I lived there, view from above the stairs to the minstrels gallery
But the years I spent from age four to nine in a big, beautiful house, surrounded by English woodland and handing round cake at weekend weddings, were very formative. You can still visit my family house, Stanhill Court (Hotel) in Charlwood. It is still a hotel and wedding venue, though now much changed and modernised by the current owners. Very occasionally I make a bespoke wedding dress for someone who is going to be married there and that always brings me much happiness.
If you feel a connection with me and my interests enquire today about starting the design process for your bespoke wedding dress.
"Everyone at the wedding said my dress looked amazing, I had so many lovely comments! Thank you again for making my dress fit so perfectly!"
What more can I say? Another successful alteration, another happy bride - job done!
If you`re interested in getting your dress altered for this year, you better hurry since my slots for 2026 are filling up fast! For more info, visit my website (link in bio).
Photography - @dandjweddingphotography
A few days` ago I shared with you some of the adorable christening gowns I`ve made, but let`s not forget the sweet little suits and waistcoats too!
Like with the christening gowns and dresses, I try to incorporate some elements of baby`s mum`s wedding dress or dad`s suit. For example, in the 3rd photo, baby G has a mini-me waist that is an exact copy of his daddy`s.
For the little suit in the 5th photo, I used fabrics left over from mummy’s wedding dress to create an 18th century style waistcoat, cravat and trousers for their little boy. Doesn`t he look so dapper?
I think it`s wonderful when a wedding gown can live past its big day, whether that be re-purposing, upcycling, passing it on to someone else or as a christening outfit. The possibilities are endless!
If you`d never thought about upcycling your wedding dress before, maybe now you might consider it. And as always, my door is always open if you want to have a chat about how you might go about doing that.
Photography (#1 and #2) - @charlottelouisephotography
It`s spring! And spring is about fresh starts and new life! So I wanted to focus on a very cute part of my job - creating dresses for babies out of their mothers` wedding gowns.
In the first two photo we have Eleanor, whose dress I made in 2010 and then six years later I made a christening gown out of the spare material for little Baby A. I always try to keep as many of the details from the original dress in the new design - here I kept the box pleated frills from the bottom of Eleanor`s dress, as well as that beautiful embroidered silk. Seeing baby and mother, both in their gowns is just too adorable! 😍
In the 4th photo you can see another wedding dress next to the christening gown I made from it. And in the following photo, where I made two outfits from one dress (that little romper is one of my faves).
I don`t always make christening outfits by upcycling wedding dresses, but when I do I really enjoy the challenge of interpreting the design for little bodies, whether the original design is mine or not. I think it`s a lovely way of respecting the original designer and also as a way of linking a big day in their mother`s life, to a big day in theirs.
Let me know in the comments; would you ever re-purpose your wedding dress?
Photography (#8 and #9) - @charlottelouisephotography
This Bridgerton-inspired wedding dress is so versatile!
Of course, underneath everything there first needs to be the proper shapewear to give that Regency pillar silhouette, in the form of stays and a petticoat.
Then along comes this beautiful white and gold duchess satin dress.
And this is where the fun begins...
I created some many different accessories and options for this outfit:
You can add something deeply dramatic, with a period-accurate presentation train. This one is super long and gilded in gold lace.
Or you could go for some detachable puff sleeves, finished with an ornate pearl trim.
Then there`s the bow, which can be added on top of the train, or just straight onto the dress, with the long sash-tends working as a sort of mini train.
And of course, the final, and most essential accessory for a look like this: fun, whimsy and a love for the dramatic. It also helps if you`re obsessed with this current season of Bridgerton, of course...
Which Bridgerton character can you imagine wearing this bridal look?
If you think this might be the dress for you, it`s currently for sale on my Etsy page (🔗 in bio) - it`s heavily discounted compared to my usual bespoke orders, so claim her whilst you can!
❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
The hair matches the wedding dress! The hair matches the wedding dress! How many brides can say they had a rainbow dress and rainbow hair for their wedding day? Honestly, looking at all this colour brings me so much joy!
Bryony is a gorgeous alternative woman, with tattoos, piercings and a wicked sense of humour, so she needed a dress that could match her. She had already chosen this beautiful gown when she contacted me, but that was only the start of its journey to the aisle.
Along with a few alterations, I dip dyed her dress, along with the tulle shoulder bows, to make this feast for the eyes - bright, vibrant colours to match Bryony`s bright, vibrant soul.
And if you`re asking yourself, "well, if it`s a rainbow, where`s the green?", I think the greenness of their outdoor wedding finishes off the rainbow perfect.
If you can`t stop staring at this dress, drop me and DM, and bring some colour to your wedding this year.
❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
Photography - @alexandra_weddings
#altbride #ukbride #2026bride #dipdyeweddingdress
A little look into the process of dip dying this gorgeous wedding dress.
The dress itself was chiffon and sequined lace, and my job was to make it just a little less white and a whole lot more fun.
This gradient has seven different colours; buttercup yellow, tangerine orange, cherry red, magenta, grape purple and sky blue.
I added each layer of colour gradually. Instead of marking out where each colour begins and ends, I used my skills and decades of experience to measure by eye, judging when the balance of colours and the blend of gradients was just right.
Since the dress was layered, I had to build this ombre effect twice, and make sure they matched. And then I split the rainbow and dyed one shoulder bow one half, and the other side, the other half.
Which colour is your favourite?
If you want to see more photos of this dress on Bryony`s wedding day, I`ll be posting a full set in a few days` time, so why not follow me for more whimsical bridal content?
Photography - @alexandra_weddings
