Ivory silk mikado wedding coat

wedding coat silk mikado ivory


Catherine got married at Guildford Cathedral in December so her silk mikado wedding coat and dress ensemble worked perfectly for the weather and spectacular venue.

Official photography by taylormadeimagery

I design a simple and elegant long wedding coat in ivory silk Mikado with slight lip and plunge v-neckline and criss-cross ribbon waist detail. The long sleeves with bell cuffs had real button and loop detail. The train flared with three box pleats and a back belt and cover buttons to finish.

Her dress beneath was just floor length all round and made in layered soft satin and georgette for the plain circle skirt. The boned bodice was duchess satin with a guipure lace over-lay. It had a square neckline and three quarter length sleeves with flared cuffs to finish. A pleated satin sash drew attention to Catherine’s shapely waistline and was ornamented with a real antique gold and pearl brooch and extra hand sewn pearls. The back closed with real buttons and loops. I also helped to restore her mother’s vintage veil and made dresses and bolero’s for her attendants.

modest wedding dress custom made

Catherine with her beautiful flowers all ready to go

windy wedding day on the steps
veils in the wind royal style wedding coat

It was a little windy on their arrival to the Cathedral but every effort was taken to get Catherine safely inside with her veil still attached

before the ceremony bridal long coat
walking up the cathedral aisle wedding coat
bridal veil in a church traditions

Nicola helping Catherine with the big ‘reveal’. Having a plan for who will raise the ‘blusher’ of your veil, and perhaps a practice is always a good idea!

long sleeve wedding dress
plus size bridesmaid dress navy blue silk

Nicola was a perfect bridesmaid, supporting Catherine through the service and always helpful at dress fittings! To see more pictures of her dress and the little bridesmaids click here.

Original design sketches

In the end the sash tails were left off the dress sash and the knot changed for the antique brooch detail.

wedding portrait in a cathedral flowergirls
square neck wedding dress with guipure lace

Later in the day Catherine removed the silk mikado wedding coat to reveal the pretty dress.

made to measure wedding gown silk and lace
cutting the cake plus size bride wedding dress
plus size wedding bride dress sash square neck

We used a beautiful antique pearl and gold brooch on the sash as a pretty detail and also Catherine’s ‘something old’. I added more pearls around it so it did not look too small on the wide sash.

couture detail brooch wedding dress sash
rouleau buttons and loops wedding dress

Back detail: the button and loop closure

Making Catherine’s Dress and Ivory silk mikado wedding coat

toile fitting picture bespoke dressmaker

A fitting picture in the ‘toile’ or practice run of the dress

wedding coat toile fitting picture

A fitting picture in the ‘toile’ or practice run of the coat

fitting picture bespoke dress and coat wedding

The partly made dress and coat.

fitting picture made to measure bridal gown

A final fitting picture in the finished dress.

pleated sash and sleeve detail pearl

Detail of the finished dress with pleated sash, antique brooch and lace applique detail on the sleeves

guipure lace flower bridal gown

Detail of the lace on Catherine’s dress with ‘daffodil’ motifs around the neckline.

vintage veil in a fitting lace flowers

Catherine wore her mother’s veil, the lace applique pieces are original but they had been removed. We carefully replaced them and spaced them to show up beyond the ivory of the coat’s train.

wedding dress and bridesmaids ready to go

I also made three flowergirl boleros, an adult bridesmaid dress and a going away dress for Catherine. This is the whole ‘collection’ steamed and waiting for her to arrive and take them away! Click here to see more pictures of the bridesmaid and flowergirls.

wrist loop bustle something blue tradition

A hidden detail of the ‘something blue’ rose I sew to all the dresses I make next to the wrist loop on the train.

To talk to me more about having your coat wedding dress made to order just get in touch

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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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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
"I cannot begin to put into words how thankful I am that I found you to make my wedding dress of my dreams. The dress was perfect in every way and the colours looked glorious in the Cornish sunshine. Everyone fell in love with the dress and I even got likened to the Porthleven mermaid! It even stood up to rambling down cliffs. You truly are a genius and I can never thank you enough."⁠

Nicola wanted an elegant and figure-hugging mermaid wedding dress made in pale ivory lace. To add colour to her look, she chose a vibrant yellow, orange, red and purple dip dye skirt. 

If you want to see how the dress looked on the day of Nicola's wedding, have a look at my previous post. I love how the colours of the dress really stand out against the dramatic setting of the Cornish coast.⁠
⁠
If you're also looking for a completely unique wedding dress, then you've come to the right place. Starting with your ideas and working together during the entire process, I'll design and make your dream wedding dress. Drop me and DM and let's have a chat!
⁠
~⁠
Photography - Thomas Frost - @t.frost.photography⁠
Venue - Beacon Crag B&B, Porthleven - @beaconcragweddingvenue⁠
Flowers - Fullers Flowers - @fullersflowers⁠
Hair & Makeup - Amy Needham @amyellenhairandmakeup
Part 2!

In Part 1 I spent all day prepping my bridal window display. There was a looot of dismantling and tidying involved before I could even begin to start thinking about which wedding dresses I wanted to include in my Pride themed window. Now that's all done, let's just enjoy all this glorious colour!

Which outfit is your favourite? I would love to see a bride wearing both the skirt and veil in one, fabulous, rainbow look.

And, of course, happy Pride 🏳️‍🌈

#pride #bridalboutique #surreybride #sussexbride #altbride #alternativebride #colourfulbride #bespokeweddingdress #weddingdress
I love making wedding dresses, but a highlight of my month is always coming up with a new window display.

For this month, obviously I had to do something for Pride. You probably know by now, but Pride is important to me for lots of reasons. I feel it especially important as an individual, as well as a business, to show my support and my pride openly, so that others know that my shop is a safe space for all.

With that theme in mind for this bridal boutique window display, I chose my Nile Queen wedding dress, complete with golden corset, and this gorgeous gold leaf, dip dye train. For the other three looks, I chose the bases to be relatively simple, so that the pops of colour from the rainbow overskirts and veil could really shine through. 

If you want to see how the window turned out, have a look at for Part 2!
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