Dear Felicity,?Thank you so much for making my wedding dress, it is absolutely beautiful and I had great fun swinging the train around with the hand loop! Getting it on was a mission though – you made it look easy! I will send some pictures as soon as we get them back. I might be in touch again to see if you can transform my dress into something I can wear again and again ? it would be such a shame to have it hang up out of sight for the rest of it’s life. Best of luck with baby number 2, I hope everything goes well for you.
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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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 I originally made Eleanor`s bespoke wedding dress for her in 2010.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
It`s not everyone who gets to say that part of their job is hand-sewing a delicate, beaded spider`s web, finished with Swarovski crystal dew drops.
It`s only because my brides have such brilliant and beautiful imaginations that I get to make such wonderful things.
Happy Halloween, everyone 🕷️🕸️
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