Amanda came to me in 2009 to have a bespoke regency wedding dress made. I designed her a dress in pale gold silk satin with an ivory/gold beaded lace top layer. I created a lightly boned bodice with square neckline and high waistline seam with contrast band. The softly draping skirt spreads to a train at the back. To match Amanda’s hopes the style is slightly reminiscent of Regency fashion (1810) , though in no way trying to be historically accurate. Many aspects of this dress are completely modern to the 2009 period when it was made.
Amanda changed her mind four times about the sleeves… I made her some sleeve ‘samples’ to choose from in the end. Just one of each sort (short puff, gypsy, cap and longer puff) and then made the pair up for the one she finally chose. The sleeve of choice was a gypsy style in wheat coloured silk tulle with a lace edge to match the rest of the dress. We also used the silk tulle to make the under bust band to help tie all the elements together.
Photographs with kind permission from Paul Johnson pjp photography
Original design sketch
The sleeves were changed from this design during the making process to off the shoulder short puffs in wheat coloured silk tulle.
Making Amanda’s bespoke Regency wedding dress
Toile Fitting and first fitting in real fabrics
A ‘toile’ is a practice run of the dress out of cheaper fabrics so adjustments can be made without wasting the expensive lace etc. A toile fitting never looks very exciting, indeed I expect a lot of brides go home a bit worried afterwards. But as you can see from the finished pictures, the final dress looks a lot better!
In Amanda’s case the skirt of the toile was cut from the ‘proper’ fabric as a cheaper substitute would not have hung correctly. Any adjustments may not have been the same for the real fabric.
Detail of partly made dress on the stand, the lovely beaded lace cost more than £250/m!
Pictures from the final fitting, front and back. Below, the partly made gown, before adding the sleeves.
To see another pale gold wedding dress with beaded lace head over to Nicola’s wedding dress
To you’d like to speak to me about having your won bespoke regency wedding dress made just get in touch
