Nicola wanted a simple and elegant dress made in pale ivory, with a dip dye skirt for her wedding by the dramatic Cornish coast. As a result, I created this fabulous sunset dipdye wedding dress for her.
Photography – Thomas Frost
Nicola sent me a lovely note after her wedding:
“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.”
Elements of the Dress
The stretch fabric of the dress meant it would take it’s shape from Nicola’s body. The main bodice had a soft, sweet heart neckline at the front and a low cut away line to the waist at the back. Bust cups and light boning in the bodice provided a good shape and some support.
Lace covered the whole front bodice and extends up to a racer neckline displaying Nicola’s amazing shoulders. Straps at the back fastened with a button and loop at the top.
The skirt was fitted over Nicola’s hips and flared from the lower thigh into a gentle mermaid shape. A shaped seam dipped at the front and higher at the back. The flared part of the skirt featured layers of soft tulle over the main fabrics, which were dip dyed in sunset colours.
The dress was fully lined and closed with a concealed zip. A wrist loop and bustle buttons for the train were also added.
The Initial Bespoke Design
Nicola had seen my dip dye designs online and sought me out specifically. She loved the Phoenix colour way – going from buttercup yellow, to vibrant orange, to deep red, finally ending on a rich purple.
When it came to making Nicola’s sunset dipdye wedding dress, we went through two initial designs. Our main challenge was fabric choice. Nicola is a large animal vet and rock climber, so having a dress she could move in was important to her (and to show off her amazing figure). It was tricky to work out the right combination of suitable fabrics for Nicola’s more active requirements – stretch isn’t suitable for the dip dye process, so we needed to come up with the perfect design, which incorporated the different elements she wanted
The solution was creating sections for the dress all all stretch fabrics on the top half and upper skirt, and then a fish tail flare with the tulle we needed for the dip dye colour. I suggested softening the join by having the seam curved and appliquéd with more lace.
The Making Of a Sunset Dip Dye Wedding Dress
The first fitting of the toile. I make a toile as a practice run of the dress in cheap fabrics to perfect style and fit.
Constructing the bodice.
The second fitting, now using the actual fabrics.
The final fitting, and the finished sunset dipdye wedding dress on the stand.
Details above of the finished dress on the stand, with train spread out and bustled up for dancing. Chantilly lace was hand appliquéd to the bodice and the skirt on the join between the upper and lower skirt sections. Our plan at first was just the lace on the surface, softening the join between the tulle and stretch crepe above. But during the work process I suggested to Nicola that we should add more lace shapes underneath the tulle layers. These were only semi-visible through the coloured tulle creating even more of a ‘fade’ with lace as well as colour.
If you want to see more of my lace creations, you find many more here.
