Lisa was a bridesmaid for her friend who lives overseas. So I made her a blue and gold bespoke taffeta bridesmaid dress. Lisa was sent the beautiful duck-egg/gold shot taffeta fabric and given free reign over her own dress design. The other bridesmaid’s dress was made up overseas by a local dressmaker. I made the...
I made this traditional christening dress for baby E in beautiful pale gold beaded lace. We started with a simple bodice with folded chiffon sash and real buttons and loops to close. I added little puffed sleeves in matching lace complete the picture. Her mum and I designed this gown in the traditional ‘long clothes’...
Alice commissioned three fairytale bespoke flower girl dresses, Surrey. Official Wedding pictures by www.laurencephotography.com I designed the dresses each with a simple bodice in silver silk satin and layered skirts in grey and white chiffon over gathered tulle. The skirt layers were cut and graduated in petals with tiny purple and white organza butterflies sewn...
Faye commissioned an unusual red and black Goth corset wedding dress. I made it for her in black and red duchess satin. The inspiration for the design came from a dress worn by a lady in one of her favourite music videos! I created Faye’s dress as a two piece, bodice and skirt but with...
Lou commissioned a simple informal midi wedding dress in a Kimono style. I chose soft sand-coloured silk satin to create this design. This dress was worn for a wedding day but was made to an evening dress budget, and so was not lined. The dress has a high boat-neckline and is loose fitting but pulled...
A beautiful 1950’s style orange wedding dress with delicate cream lace over Autumnal golden-orange silk. Photography by Gregg Brown www.greggbrownweddings.com Rebecca’s dress has a fitted and boned bodice with a face framing collar and v-neckline. Long lace sleeves are finished with scalloped edging. The skirt is a tea length full circle over many layers of...
Yellow and ivory spring bridesmaids and flower girls for Rachel Rachel commissioned three silk and tulle dresses for her younger bridesmaids and two shop bought dresses were customised for her grown-up attendants. Official wedding pictures by Robert Lawler The two teen bridesmaids had v-neck ivory silk dupion bodices with wrap-over ruched detailing and a ruched...
Whether for a small an intimate elopement or a traditional country wedding with a marquee and hundreds of guests, a traditional long sleeve lace wedding dress ticks all the boxes. Issie’s dress was made with a boned satin bodice with pretty lace overlay. Long sleeves and a boat neckline were trimmed with a pretty scalloped...
Posts from Felicity Westmacott
Ooh, I love a good before and after!
Two dresses for two very different occasions. One upcycled from the other!
Eleanor`s original wedding dress (which I also made) was perfect for her more opulent, formal wedding day. But like so many wedding dresses, once the day is done, it never gets to see the light of day again.
Unless it does 👀
Taking a dress and giving it a new life is such a joy, and now Eleanor can wear her much more practical dress for many more special occasions.
As well as the original wedding dress, I also upcycled the Christening gown I had made from off-cuts from the first round of dress making. With these, and the scraps from this transformation, I made her daughter a summer dress to match too. You can see that dress in the final photo 🩵
Would you trust a seamstress to transform your wedding dress?
Isn`t this transformation so satisfying? 😍 I love giving wedding dresses a new life! I originally made Eleanor`s bespoke wedding dress for her in 2010. Fifteen years later, she came back to me asking whether I could re-imagine her dress into something new for her wedding anniversary. Of course I said yes.
So, we went from a full length dress, inspired by Victorian and 18th century fashion, to a tea length 1950s look. The only extra fabric I used was for the new petticoats I used underneath the shortened skirt, to give it that classic 50s silhouette. Making this was a very satisfyingly sustainable project.
Which version would you wear?
A few months` ago, you all helped me choose what colours to dip dye a sample wedding dress I`d bought. The winning vote was for pinks and purples, so that`s exactly what I`ll be doing!
A bride-to-be has actually claimed this dress now, so you won`t be able to see what it looks like until after her big day 👀
But I have a few more sample dresses to play around with. I want to try some colour combinations I don`t usually get asked to do by brides, to really illustrate just how wild you can go with your choices.
So, which combo do you think I should do?
1. Desert at dusk 🩵💚💜 pale blue, shifting into dusty turquoise and green, and finishing with an undersaturated aubergine.
2. Spice of life 💛🧡❤️ cream that quickly amps up to yellow, orange and red. Nothing subtle, just bold, bright colours!
3. Alpine escape 💚🩵💙 all the most calming colours. Mossy green
and the deep teal of a glacial lake.
4. Distant storm 💜🩶🖤 the colour of lightning in the night`s sky. Lavender, soft grey and blackest of blacks.
Vote in the comments!
#dipdyeweddingdress #weddingdress #colourfulbride #bridalboutique #colourfulweddingdress
Even though Rebecca lives in Germany, she sought me out specifically to make her bespoke wedding dress. She had seen my colour work and fantasy-inspired designs, and decided I was the perfect fit for her (pun intended!).
She wanted a wedding dress fit for an ethereal princess, complete with this stunning pastel rainbow gradient. This kind of effect can`t be achieved with dip dye. I had to use a different technique; ombre-dying.
If you feel like you should have been born as an elven queen in a romantasy novel, then I might just be the right person to bring that dream to life ✨
After Rebecca decided I was the right person for the job of making her wedding outfit, I began work on this gorgeous, floaty dream of a wedding dress.
However, we had an additional challenge to overcome...Rebecca lives in Germany. (there`s something about me and German brides - we just get along. This is my second bespoke order from Germany!) But we found a system that really worked for us during this process.
So if you`re an overseas bride, looking for the complete bespoke experience (as opposed to `made to measure` which is what we do if you can`t visit for fittings), take note.
The dress was made over the course of six months. Rebecca first visited in May for 4 days, during which we had three separate fittings. Then I worked on the dress, including the intricate dye techniques required to achieve this pastel rainbow. In September she visited for another three days (three weeks before her wedding), with a fitting every day. After the final fitting, she took the dress back to Germany with her.
I`ve had many other overseas brides, and they often choose made-to-measure: where I make the dress according to their measurements (following my strict instructions on how to take those measurements). This process leaves less space for changing the design, and always requires some additional work from a seamstress once it has been sent.
For Rebecca, having the full bespoke experience was absolutely the right choice. During our fittings she changed her mind on a few design elements - including removing the sleeves - meaning that by the time it was finished, it was exactly what she wanted.
You just can`t beat bespoke 💜
~
Photography - @pesto_fotografie
"The dress got so many compliments and it was so nice to be able to wear something that felt so much more like a reflection of who I am."
Look at this beauty!
I`ve made a lot of custom dip dye wedding dresses, and many of them have been the Phoenix colourway. But somehow Jess made it feel brand new when she asked me to add blue to the bottom, and lower the saturation on the colours.
So instead of bright sunflower yellow, we went with a buttery pastel yellow. Instead of vibrant orange, we chose a warm coral. Followed by dusky pinks and muted purples, right down to that faded navy.
The effect turned out looking like like watercolours 🖌️ I love how it turned out and I`m so glad Jess did too 💜
Photography - Craig Foreman Photography
