Wedding Dress for Issey

Silk wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: caffe coloured silk and black lace applique

Caffe-latte coloured silk and black lace wedding dress. Very tight laced corset beneath ruched fishtail dress, button back and hand appliqu? work.

Photography by www.robbinsphotographic.com

Issey’s dress has a sweet heart neckline on her boned bodice. The fit and flare skirt extends into a small train at the back. Black lace creates little cap sleeves, finished with scalloped edging, and covers her shoulders too.

Silk wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: caffe coloured silk and black lace applique

Silk wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: caffe coloured silk and black lace applique, original design sketch
The original design sketch, with two different sleeve options, neither of which were used in the end.
Silk wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: caffe coloured silk and black lace applique

Silk wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: caffe coloured silk and black lace applique, detail of the back button fastening

The back featured a cut away lace neckline above the main silk dress. The buttons were covered in black silk and extended up through the cut-away to the high neckline.

Silk wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: caffe coloured silk and black lace applique, the train with beaded motifs

The train was embellished with hand appliqu?d black lace motifs.

Silk wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: caffe coloured silk and black lace applique, thank you letter from issie

Issey wrote: 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.

?Love from Issey (and the ‘Isabella’ dress)

Silk wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: caffe coloured silk and black lace applique, many hands make light work of fastening Issie into her dress

Issey’s dress was created over a tightly lace inner corset, integral to the dress. The silk layer then closed with real buttons and loops.

Silk wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: caffe coloured silk and black lace applique, dressing the bride

Silk wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: caffe coloured silk and black lace applique

Silk wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: caffe coloured silk and black lace applique, a wrist loop for her train help issie keep her dress out of the dust

The train came with a wrist loop so Issey could hold her dress out of the dust when walking outside. A tiny ‘something blue’ was sewn to be revealed when she lifted her train in this way.

Silk wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: caffe coloured silk and black lace applique

Silk wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: caffe coloured silk and black lace applique

Silk wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: caffe coloured silk and black lace applique, beaded motifs on the train

Making Issey’s dress

Silk wedding dress by Felicity Westmacott: caffe coloured silk and black lace applique, fitting picyures

Three pictures from the making process, on the left, the ‘toile’ or practice run in cheap fabrics. The right is an intermediate fitting, with the black lining layers not yet covered with the ruched silk. In the centre Issey is at her second to last fitting with just the hem and black lace embellishment to finish. She was choosing, as well, between short or elbow length sleeves.

Posts from Felicity Westmacott

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Story time! 

Remember the Swan Lake themed wedding photoshoot I featured a few days' ago?

When the day came for the shoot, we were blessed with one of the sunniest days of the year so far (and this was March), but the ground was still very wet. We really wanted to get some photos amongst the trees for that real fairy tale feeling, but our beautiful bride, @alicia.modelling_x⁠ didn't want to risk ruining the outfit.

And that's when I stepped in!

You may think that a seamstress is only on set to help with the dress. But I'm here to do anything that might be useful to the shoot, and if that means carrying Alicia across the boggy ground, then that's what I'll do! 😂
(I was quite pleased that all my work on strength with @mybodyrocksstudio is paying off!)

If you want a seamstress who will not only make the perfect bespoke wedding dress for you, but will also go the extra mile for you, I think you know who to call 😉

(shout to @hair_by_tel ⁠for capturing this moment)
Today is my birthday, so I wanted to share something I've been grateful for almost every year of my life.

I started ballet lessons when I was four, moving on to the Lewiston School of Dance until 18 (I even won the Pointe Work cup with them once). My grandmother had been a professional dancer and my mum also took ballet lessons (and still does, at over 70!), so there has always been a lot of ballet in my family.

When I went to uni, I stopped dancing, then came back to it in the form of adult ballet lessons with my mum, and then got pregnant. After that I found aerial hoop, which replaced dancing as my active hobby. However, my ballet training has really helped my progress in hoop, and I'm very grateful for the skills I continue to draw upon for both hoop and acting.

What's a hobby you're grateful to have started, no matter what stage in life?

(and shout out to @hair_by_tel ⁠for capturing this video of me playing around during a recent bridal photoshoot)

#ballet #passion #dancing
The main inspiration for this wedding dress was this blue and white gown, worn by Emily Blunt for Vanity Fair. Claire, the bride, added photos of the infamous Mr Pearl's beautifully ornate corsets to her mood board as well.

As a bride, talking in images is one of the easiest ways for me to understand your vision and aesthetic. If someone says to me 'dreamy' or 'classic', that can mean very different things to different people. But this gorgeous reference photo of a Dior gown gave me everything I needed to know to start sketching.

What images are on your dream wedding mood board right now?

~
#weddingdress #bespokeweddingdress #blueweddingdress #hautecouturewedding #weddinginspiration
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