Long sleeve lace wedding dress and veil

Bespoke ivory lace wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott


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 edging. A simple silk dupion sash highlighted her tiny waist and the back fastened with buttons and loops. The full skirt was three layers of silk organza over linings and netting flowing out behind in a wide train.

I also made Issie’s very two tier long veil. The train part was trimmed in matching lace edging to her dress and the blusher (comes over the face) was edged with simple cording.

Official photographs by Monty Steedman Photography

Classic corded lace bodice and silk skirt wedding dress

original design sketch by Felicity Westmacott
Original design skirt for Issie’s dress
Traditional military wedding dress with full skirt and veil

Military Wedding

Issie’s traditional long sleeve lace wedding dress was a perfect foil for her groom’s military uniform. Other dress styles could work too. I have made a very modern and understated dress for a military wedding before. Mixing up traditions and new ideas can work really well in all aspects of wedding planning.

Ball dress style wedding gown custom made to order

corded lace sleeve detail on custom wedding gown

Bespoke wedding veil and dress for English wedding lace and silk

Making Issie’s Traditional Long Sleeve Lace Wedding Dress

Pictures from the fittings showing her dress at various stage of the making process. Every bespoke dress I make starts with a ‘toile’ or practice run in cheaper materials. We can check the fit and style are just right before working with more costly fabrics. Then a series of fittings enables me to check everything is progressing at it should as the dress comes together.

I also made a long, two tier veil for Issie to match her wedding dress. It had a ‘blusher’ which is the extra layer that can be worn over your face when entering your ceremony space. I hand sewed lace edging to the long train of Issie’s veil and edged the blusher with matching narrow soutache cord.

final fitting picture of bespoke wedding dress and veil

Sweetheart boned bodice and lace wedding dress

Fitting picture hand made wedding dress

Fitting picture of custom wedding dress and veil

bespoke corded lace bodice and corded edge veil made to order

To see another wedding dress with a lace bodice and sleeves see Sofia’s dress on my blog

If you’d like to speak to me about your ideas for a bespoke commission, be that a traditional long sleeve lace wedding dress or another idea just head over to my contact page to get in touch.

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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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I love an analogy, and I think this one is a really powerful one.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments 💜
@kathykyle_studio is a local artist who walked into my shop one day and asked me to make her a dress. She's a textile artist, and she was having a launch party for her latest collection, and wanted something extra special for the occasion.

Kathy makes wearable art. She paints beautiful, intricate designs and has her designs printed onto silk scarves. Her pieces are full of meaningful motifs about feminism, life and so much more.

Making this dress was such a wonderful collaboration. Kathy created a new design (5m x 1.5m in size) to be printed onto fabric, and brought me a vintage pattern she wanted to use. The pattern was actually reversable, with options for both a V-neck and boat neck. It was very cool to see Kathy switching her dress round for each part of her launch day.

I love working with fellow artists!

#dorking #surrey #textileart #bespokedress #customdress #printedfabric
Here are just some of my creations from the past year! I feel so lucky to get to make such interesting and varied garments as my job 🥰 colourful wedding dresses, unique mother of the bride ensembles, as well as alterations to make a dress feel more like home.

If you used my services (as a bride specifically) between Oct 1st 2024 up until now, I have a little favour to ask...
I've been nominated for the 2026 Wedding Industry Awards, in the "Independent Dressmaker/Designer" category and the people in the time period above are the only ones who are eligible to vote for me. 

So, if you have a spare few minutes, and you enjoyed both working with me and the outcome, then you can vote for me via the link in my bio. There are different voting links depending on whether you were a bespoke or dipdye booking, or an alteration booking. 

Industry recognition is one thing, but recognition from the people I work with is even better 💜
(and if you've already voted for me, thank you!! It means the world!)
It's giving bridal Sun Goddess 🌞 Just look at that colour!

One of my favourite bespoke wedding dresses to date. I made this opulent bronze gold look for an equally gorgeous bride who wanted something a little different for her wedding day. 

My favourite features have got to be the statement bow on the shoulder and the cartridge pleats around the waist. This style of pleating helped add volume to this unbelievable iridescent dupion silk. Cartridge pleating was popular in the first Elizabethan era and always gives a touch of the historical to any garment on which it's included.

I also included a bustle hook (you can see what the dress looks like up in the last clip), which totally transforms the dress and makes it much easier to move in when it's time to dance!

This is bride was a dream client - elegant and adventurous, with a touch of the dramatic 😉 drop me a DM if you've got wedding dress dreams that you're dying to bring to life!

#weddingdress #ukbride #bespokeweddingdress #bridetobe
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