Finish it up Friday... Something to wear to a courthouse!

Favorite finish EVER!

A little over two weeks ago I married my best friend! I finished a huge chapter of my life and started another one.

It was simple, short and sweet.

However, a courthouse wedding doesn't mean I couldn't have a beautiful dress.

I was planning to just wear a nice dress I could use again but I had a moment of inspiration and I sew...so I gave it a whirl!

First I knew I wanted to accordion pleated the skirt. I have a couple vintage finds that have those and I love the look.

Second I have a dress made from a burdastyle pattern with a lovely, modest neckline. So I decided to pair the two together.

I am glad it was a pattern I had made before. I am terrible at making a practice, but cutting into special fabric makes it more necessary. 

I  found the fabric at Joanns. A simple off white with lovely drape. Making a lace overlay for the bodice was part of my vision. I looked through all the florally laces and didn't like a one...then I found this one with circles, almost looks like doilies.

I watched several videos and tutorials on how to make fabric pleated like I wanted. They all looked pretty simple, so I bought some poster board accordion folded it and started to try! It didn't work. Too slippery!

For the bodice I simply made a layer of the cream Fabric and then also a layer of the lace. I wanted the lace to be sheer on my sleeves.  I didn't do a very good job finishing the inside seam of that but hey no one needs to see it right!?

I finally just used the good old fold and iron method for the skirt fabric. My pleats aren't perfect and they don't match up exactly on the side seams but I like the way it turned out! They start small and get wider at the bottom of the skirt.

To finish the sleeve Edge I simply cut around the scalloped edge of the circles in the fabric.

Yay for finish! When I attached the skirt to the bodice I did have to do some tucked pleats to make it fit a little better. I put in a zipper in the back seam which went fairly smooth! I could have taken in a little bit on the shoulder seam to make it fit better under the arms but I didn't do a whole lot in this dress not making it necessary.

I'm so glad my vision worked out, I love my dress! Hooray for being married! I pretty much love that too!