Dress Preparation

So I am going to brave it. I have given up on the idea of losing x amount of pounds for the wedding - I weigh 56kg and that's that - and will use whatever fat I carry on me now to guide me through the shape of the dress.

A colleague of mine has been so kind as to lend me some of her wedding things. I asked her whether I could buy her old underskirt of her and she agreed, then showed up with veils and dresses in addition to that! One of the dresses was highly interesting and, amazingly, even suited me, so I will use it as a guide for my autumn dress.

I will jot down what I learned here, so I don't forget:

The corset: undoubtedly the most interesting thing to look at for me. It had two layers of fabric - one cotton, one satin. 8 pieces altogether. The bones felt like plastic - nothing a good cable tie wouldn't replace, but contrary to my previous thoughts, it didn't really seem to matter, as the dress was tight enough and would have held my stomach in anyway. I counted 12 bones, paired up. My partner wrapped me up in duct tape the other day, so I have a perfect imprint of my upper body, excluding, of course, seam allowance.

The skirt, again, was two layers of satin. It had an extra layer of white organza and a light, green fabric added to it, both gathered just underneath the corset on one side. I found it interesting just how easy the gathering seemed and will definitely use that when I put the finishing touches to me dress.

The pattern on the bottom hem was raised - I liked it on this dress, but as mine should be fairly plain, I doubt I will use it. I may, though, add a fairly large hem on the organza - somehow, it worked very well.

Now the bits that I'd change:
The corset was zip-up at the back, meaning that I was unable to close it properly - any weight gain between now and the big day would mean I could trash the dress. Not good. Lace-up it is.
And, once again, the pictures I took with the dress on confirmed that I am just not the type for boob tube. Cover up my arms already!

Ring cushion

It's been a little quiet on the wedding DIY front recently as the holidays have meant less work for me and I have therefore used every possible opportunity to earn some money over the last few weeks, and any other free time got used up applying for more permanent roles.

I have not been idle, however. I have now got the DJ's contact details, have emailed him and am yet to hear back from him. I've booked the bridal suite the night before our wedding, so that the groom won't rest an eye on me before the big day. And I've made our ring cushion.

For this, I used some thin satin, which would have been of little use for the dress (a fail-buy, which I didn't want to see going to waste), white cotton thread, invisible nylon thread and a selection of beads - long, metallic, pearls, drop-shaped and diamond-shaped - as well as some toy stuffing and Fraystopper.

After applying Fraystopper around the edges, I cut out two 9 1/2 inch by 9 1/2 inch satin squares and sewed 3 of the edges together on the inside. I then turned the cushion to the right side and attached two beads - the round, metallic one and a see-through plastic one - on either end through the middle of the fabric with the help of the invisible thread. This was to ensure that the cushion would bend towards the middle and hold the rings securely.  I then sewed the rest of the beads in a floral pattern onto only one of the two fabric squares. It would probably have been easier to do this first and then the middle beads, but you live and learn.
The next task was connecting the edges of the last side with cotton thread, being careful to leave a gap for the stuffing, which went into each corner - enough, to make it all cushion-shaped and soft, but not too much to risk the threads bursting. Then I sewed the last bits of the edge together.
All in all, it took me, maybe, three hours to get the cushion done by hand. Hadn't I had a few G+Ts in the process, it may have taken 2, but the beads proved a little more difficult when tipsy.

Anyway, I must slowly get to the point of actually making serious savings. A similar ring cushion in the shop went for about £12 - this one here cost me about £2. I will have to start making a list. The next blog post appears sorted :-)
Though, I am also working on some table decorations, which would start at a minimum of £20 in shops, so we will see.