I created a bespoke modest lace wedding dress for Ellie. In fact it was a dress created from the base of a shop-bought dress but with a major re-design. Ellie found a Pronovias dress in a high street shop with lace and detailing she loved but some elements of the style and particularly the neckline were far from her perfect dress so an extensive re-styling was required. Pictures of the dress before all the changes are further down this page.
Official Wedding pictures by www.chrislegg.net
The finished dress had a fitted and boned bodice with modest round neckline and short sleeves. The dress was fitted to the upper hip and then flared gently to the floor. The whole dress was covered with ivory corded lace and heavily embellished with sequins and pearls. A ruched tulle panel gave texture across the bodice and a silk satin sash with vintage style brooch was added as a finishing touch. The back closed with cover buttons and loops over a concealed zip. The medium length train was edged with scalloped lace and came with a hook-up bustle for the evening.
Ellie wrote:
Dear Felicity, Firstly I wanted you to know what a GRANDDDD success the dress was. It was absolutely superb and I still go and unzip the cover and have a peek at it. Sooooo many people commented on it. I am so grateful for all the hours you put in!!!! You did a incredible job. It was exactlyyy what I wanted so thank you. Only you could have done that job.
Thanks again. Miss the fittings and coming to see you. Hope all is well with you.?
Love Ellie.xx
The dress ‘before’
The original Pronovias dress, before alterations
Design sketch for bespoke modest lace wedding dress
This sketch shows our planned outline shape. what I hope to achieve after the alterations were complete.
Ellie also had extensive style alterations to her shop bought bridesmaids dresses. You can see more about the work I did for those dresses here.
Ellie’s church had very particular rules about modesty which were important to Ellie and so the changes we made ensured Ellie felt both glamorous and respectfully modest on her wedding day. The original dress was strapless and much more fish-tail in skirt shape. The train was also unlined, just shear lace which Ellie felt looked unfinished so she had it lined with satin to match the rest of the dress. As the train was also very long to begin with we were able to shorten it and use the extra lace to help re-make and extend the bodice for the new neckline and still have it all match perfectly.
Pictures of Ellie before the ceremony, getting dressed and just ready…
Ellie wore an antique family veil which was carefully sewn to a modern comb for easy use.
Making Ellie’s bespoke modest lace wedding dress
Remaking the bodice meant unpicking all the lace and decoration from the original, and removing the boned under-layers. An entirely new bodice was then cut, fitted and sewn. This was re-attached to the original skirt at the waist seam and covered with the lace and ruched tulle saved from the old bodice. The zip and buttons were also moved across.
These pictures are of the ‘toile’ fitting. I have unpicked the skirt from the original bodice and create a mock-up (toile) of the new bodice shape. Trying on a toile is an integral part of the process in bespoke dressmaking ensuring the style and fit are along the right lines before we cut into the proper, and usually much more expensive fabric.
Ellie bought the Pronovias dress at least a size too big which meant the skirt was not as tight a fish-tail on her as it was designed to be. We took it in at the waist and then graduated the shape so it was slim fitting on the hip and a pretty shape without ‘tucking under’ the hip or bottom.
The third fitting
The bodice has been re-made and attached to the altered skirt, only one sleeve is sewn on so far. A practice sash has been applied but a better colour silk was found to match the main dress in the end. The train in these pics has been shortened but not yet lined or re-edged with the scalloped lace.
Final Fitting Pictures
To see another example of a dress with a major restyle head over the Hannah’s waterfall wedding dress.
If you would like to talk to me about have a bespoke modest wedding dress made you can get in touch
