The Costume Maven

I recently have been in a bit of funk trying to find the perfect dress for my wedding. I feel as if I looked through a million different websites, reviews, etc but just could not find a dress that felt like it was me. Needless to say this left me feeling pretty depressed and anxious about the whole situation. As a seamstress in the back of my mind, there is always this little voice that says "ummm, Rachel, you *could* make your own wedding dress." It is a crazy voice that seems to think that I have nothing but time on my hands even though I am an Engineering student and just bought a new house. So of course when I first heard this little niggling whisper, I beat it back because I know that I don't have the time. Then as I got more and more discouraged that voice kept getting louder and more insistent that I really should make my own dress. Next I started doubting whether I was really capable of making my own wedding dress, if I had the skills, the time, the knowledge.

Here is the finished blue bustle from Laughing Moon Mercantile pattern #112 view E. My very lovely model is shown here wearing it. The pattern went together fairly easily and quickly. I did need to make a few adjustments and changes. I selected the pattern by my hip size since I wanted a slightly larger bustle. This choice led to the necessary change of making the lacing panel smaller because it laced completely closed without even creating the desired bending of the hoop wire. The following photo shows the tucks I made for fitting prior to cutting that amount from the side seams. Another adjustment I made was to use a self-fabric waistband instead of using grosgrain ribbon. I preferred having a matching waistband. The pattern called for use of safety buckles as the closure on the waistband. I used a flat metal fashion belt buckle I found instead because it had a smaller profile than the safety buckles I could find. Due to the profile of the safety buckle, I was concerned it