Purple butterfly embroidered wedding dress

bride and maid of honour in modern vintage wedding dress purple silk

I made this purple butterfly embroidered wedding dress for Karen. It is a simple modern wedding dress in ivory silk dupion with contrast purple silk detail. I hand embroidered butterflies in silk thread and lace applique complete the picture. Karen also had a bridesmaids dresses made bespoke, see here for more pictures.

Karen’s dress has a boned bodice with sweetheart neckline, trimmed in palest pink and silver floral lace and highlighted with hand sewn Swarovski crystals. The dress has asymmetric ruching and a split at the front to reveal a dramatic ‘Cadbury’ purple silk hand appliquéd with beaded black lace motifs. At the back the dress laces closed with purple ribbon above a long train embellished with hand embroidered butterflies. Each butterfly is finished with more crystals as they fly randomly among symmetrically placed silver and pink lace applique motifs.

lace up back detail on bespoke alternative wedding dress

Lacing the bride into her dress with dramatic purple ribbon lacing.

bespoke couture strapless modern silk dupion ivory and purple wedding dress

Original design sketch

orginal design sketch by Felicity Westmacott for butterfly wedding dress with split and ruching

The placement of the the butterflies and lace applique was done at a fitting with the bride there to help. We cut out and coloured lots of butterfly designs and pinned them to the dress to decide a balanced but natural formation.

butterfly detail on wedding dress train with lace flowers

The train finished on the stand, the butterflies fly at random amongst the symmetrically placed lace motifs.

Each butterfly was hand sewn with traditional Japanese flat silk embroidery thread. Long and short satin stitches combine to give a smooth and soft texture to the wings. We used four shades of purple and lavender and two shades of ivory and cream. Each large butterfly took about 6 or 7 hours to complete, the smaller ones about 3 hours.

hand embroidery ivory lavender and purple butterfly

There were six types of butterfly on her dress, each with at least two of its kind present. I didn’t want any butterflies to feel lonely!

purple butterfly embroidery swarovski crystal hand embellishment

simple modern wedding dress with purple wrap stole

Karen also commissioned a simple purple silk stole to wear in some photos with her purple butterfly embroidered wedding dress.

alternative tattoo bride with her dressmaker

Above: the bride and her dressmaker. Karen’s wedding took place at the beautiful Coltsford Mill in surrey.

Making Karen’s Purple butterfly embroidered wedding dress

embroidery on wedding dress butterflies by hand outline

Stage one of creating a butterfly for this purple butterfly embroidered wedding dress. The outline is drawn onto the reverse of the fabric and then running stitch pushes the design through onto the front. With the fabric in a frame to keep it tight the colours are gradually filled in using a technique called long and short stain stitch.

work in the embroidery hoop silk butterfly detail

More colours are added and at the end the crystal body is sewn down the middle.

lace applique hand beaded lilac, silver and pink swarovski crystals

The lace motifs are also each sewn to the dress by hand. In palest pink and silver they provided somewhere for the butterflies to land.

corded lace detail with scalloped edge swarovksi crystal beading something blue

The lace at the neckline had a pretty scalloped edge to soften the line. Hundreds of Swarovski crystals highlighted the middle of each flower. On one side, I used a few pale blue crystals for a hidden ‘something blue’.

organza embroidered butterfly wings with bustle button

This was the only ‘single’ butterfly, larger than the others and in three dimensions. It is made with organza wings that flutter as Karen moved. The button just below was for her train to hook up onto for later in the day, the organza butterfly hovering just above.

train spread out and hooked up for dancing bustle button
train bustled up bride walking with bridesmaids

Here you can see Karen’s train spread out and hooked up for ease of walking. Her three stunning bridesmaids dresses were also created by me and can be seen in more detail in their own portfolio section.

cadbury purple silk dupion with black beaded lace applique embellishment skirt

Detail of the finished dress showing the black lace applique on the purple silk background.

bespoke dressmaker toile fitting practice run in cheap fabrics

Fitting pictures: Karen in her ‘toile’ (practice run).

 fitting picture bridal gown made to measure lace up back

Fitting pictures: Karen in the nearly finished dress, just the hem to do!

bride and maid of honour modern wedding dress sweetheart neckline ivory silk

To see another statement purple wedding dress design head over to this blog post

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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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Let’s appreciate some of the details of this dress together…

This bohemian wedding dress was made for a vintage Romani Gypsy inspired wedding shoot, and since then it has been used for a few Edwardian and Titanic inspired shoots as well.

For this look, I chose beautifully lightweight ivory silk georgette (or chiffon) and lace, trimmed with ribbons. I spent a lot of time embellishing with hand sewn lace appliqué and tiny glass beads, to make the dress truly unique.

I always like to add versatility to my designs, and for this one I created a lace overskirt, decorated with red and black floral lace and a bold red sash around the waist. Then I made a ¾ length sleeve bolero in black velvet, lined with red satin for the chill nights.

This dress makes me want to dance around a fire, singing folk songs to the stars!

If this dress feels like the one for you, you can find it, ready to order, on my Etsy (link in the bio). Or, you can order it any size you like, completely bespoke to your body and taste. 

#weddingdress #vintageweddingdress #modernvintage #2025bride #2026bride #customweddingdress #bridalboutique #ukbride
Have you ever watched Strictly and thought "I would love to wear that"?

Alison wanted a wedding dress inspired by a gown she saw on Strictly Come Dancing. I love ballroom dancing - my grandmother was a famous dancer in her time, and as a result, I feel a real affinity with the culture of ballroom. So it was really exciting for me to work with Alison in creating her dream dress.

As with all my brides, before I started to cut into the beautiful guipure lace Alison had chosen, I made a toile. The toile is a rough draft of the dress, made in cheaper fabrics. It's a really useful way of checking the fit of the pattern is right, and it also gives the bride a chance to ask for any changes they might want. It's an invaluable part of my process!

The smile on her face during her final fitting says it all ☺️

I think this dress is perfect for Alison, who could easily dance the night away in this gorgeous, floaty frock 💃

#bespokeweddingdress #surreybride #sussexbride #kentbride #londonbride #ukweddingdress #maturebride #modestbride
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