Architecture of a wedding gown

I've nearly finished turing my mother's wedding dress into mine. All that's left to do now is the embroidery and some hand-sewing (the hem is done, but I have to redo the sleeves, hand-finish some seams, tack the facings, and sew on a button, which feels like it will take as much time as sewing the rest of the dress). I'm really pleased with how it looks so far, but obviously you'll have to wait for the final reveal because we brides are jerks that way.

In the meantime, I will give you some wedding dress pictures to look at. Before I took several very deep breaths and cut into it, I took a whole whack of pictures of the dress itself, inside and out. I thought I'd share some of them with you. I put a few of them in a previous post, but there are a lot more here. Emphasis on a lot. This is a very picture-heavy post. I usually do mouse-over commentary on pictures, but not so much for this post.

September showers

Posted in a slightly timey-wimey fashion because I just didn't have time to take pix of me wearing it before the wedding. You can tell I took the outfit shots after the wedding because of the massive bandage from being attacked by my brand new mandolin slicer. 

My wonderful aunt R threw me a shower. It was hosted at my cousin/maid-of-honour/Best Woman's apartment, and it was a lovely afternoon filled with good friends, good food, and good cheer. Also? Chocolate fountain!

The fourth time's the charm...

As a slight change of pace from all this sewing and stuff, it is time again for...

The last time I managed to complete a Coffeeneuring challenge was four years ago. This time? It's on.

Coffeeneuring is basically riding a bike and drinking coffee (or coffee-like drinks), with rules. This year there is a theme within a theme... theme, which is to add an additional theme as you see fit, such as ride all the bikes you own. I've been doing this unofficially for years, which is to go to new-to-me coffee shops and have a different drink each time. I will have more success than in past years because a) I plan to not get sick and b) I can go any day of the week!

It starts the day of my wedding, and how nice of everybody (including the City) to go all out and celebrate little old us.

Take better pictures? Hire a professional!

Image credit: Rabbat Photography. Posted with permission.

I'm trying to catch up on the backlog of sewing (and I'll just say that I'm more-or-less on track with that aside from a snafu I managed to create this morning) and blogging, but I thought I'd post this quickie. Our fabulous wedding photographer Danielle of Rabbat Photography posted some of our engagement photos on her blog and they're quite fun.

16 more sleeps!

Jeans (skirt) and a (breton) t-shirt

Look at this! We're a mere five days into the Fall Essentials Sew-Along and I've already got two pieces (plus most of two other items) done! I really like this having a definite event deadline thing. I had them finished by Sunday, but waited until today to take photos. And once again, I took crappy photos. Which is sort of ironic, given that I'm supposed to be participating in Gillian's Better Pictures Project. 0/2 this month.

Accidentally on purpose: another Bronte

When I bought the fabric for the lacy blue Swoon cardi, I was going to be good and only get the yard and a half needed for the short version. Alas for me, there were just over 2 and a half yards left on the bolt, so I had to take it all. Which meant that I had to make a top out of what was left, right? Can't waste fabric!

Essentially fall: So what are you doing on your leave year? (updated)

School started today. I'm not there, because today is the official start of my leave. I've already done one of the first things I did the last time I was on leave, which is catch up on Girl Genius. But when people ask me what I plan to do, I need rather more to say than "Find the other end of the internet."^* Therefore, some planning is in order.

I'm getting married October 3. It's going to be a quiet wedding, and all the planning is already done. Coffeeneuring starts the same week and I am determined I will finish this year. I've got a lot of crap to clear out of my office, a bunch of books to read, and some teaching videos to film.

Oh. And crosswords. There will be many crosswords.

And of course there are a bunch of things I want to make. This is where the Fall Essentials Sew-Along, hosted by Rhinestones and Telephones (she of #sewDollyClackett fame), comes in.

Requiem for a wedding gown

Fifty-nine years ago today, my parents got married. In four weeks, it will be my turn. The wedding will be pretty low-key, but I've put a lot of thought into the dress. This is the beginning of its story.

As a young lass, when I imagined my wedding, I always pictured myself wearing Aged P's dress. It's a dream couture gown: heavy cream silk, very classic style, close-fitting bodice, long full skirt. Train. Portrait neckline. Custom-fit self-bustier. My great-uncle Arthur Banks was a British designer and would occasionally be brought to Canada by some of the department stores; on one of his trips to Toronto he told my mother that when she got married, he'd design her dress. She didn't really take him seriously, but sure enough when she announced her engagement, he told her to send him her measurements. A week before the wedding, it arrived, which just goes to show that getting things done at the last minute is a family trait.

When I announced my engagement, Aged P and I went to look at her dress. It's been in the box for nearly sixty years and I was a little worried it wouldn't be in good condition, but it looked fabulous. Seeing it up close for the first time, there were details I didn't know about. The waist is a thing of beauty, with this amazing seaming.

And they gave my mother something blue.

But as much as I love this dress, I can't wear it. For one thing, I don't even begin to fill out that bodice. For another, I am marrying the Dapper Cyclist and well, you just can't bike in this dress. For a third, my ideal wedding, and therefore my ideal wedding dress, has changed a lot since I was a girl. And frankly, it's a nightmare to get into or out of.

But I hated to let the dream die.

There's an awful lot of fabric in that skirt. I'm going to use it to make my dress. So I am going to wearing a part of my mother's dress after all.

Something old, something new.