Romantic Wedding Dress Design, Upcyling With A Purpose

My life philosophy is to see beauty in everything and find peace.

In dress design this translates to creative designs and comfort. Every one of my gowns is unique, romantic, elegant and meaningful. I incorporate beautiful laces, that I see for more than the visual value. I see the heart of the maker, the heart of a sister , the heart of an aunt, the heart of a mother or grandmother woven through the threads of lace, or embroidery. In the machine made lace, I see the beauty of the intricacies of life, the amazing heart threads that seem to connect us to humanity across the globe. I see the hope of human ingenuity, creating machines to create beauty.

I hope this helps you understand , appreciate and love the process that makes these gowns come to life!

My corset dresses are made from upcycled bustiers, vintage and fine fabrics and laces. I thoroughly and carefully hand wash all with gentle soap and sun dry. All of my linens and laces have been carefully laundered and ironed before construction. Once the designing begins, it’s quite a beautiful mess!

Blessings of Peace and Beauty to you,

Please be sure to read about how these gowns bring new life to human trafficking victims

Surely discomfort has a place in life, it encourages us to grow, step out of or into uncomfortable situations or work out problems. 

Your wedding dress, however should be comfortable, and I do all I can to make gowns that are lovely, unique, lightweight, and wearable. Far too often I’ve seen brides wrestle their heavy dresses, pulling them up or muscling their skirts, so I’ve made an extra effort to be sure this won’t happen for you.

When necessary, I have left the skirt separate from the bodice just for this reason.

It takes a great amount of work space to cut and piece together the skirt portion of the dress, and hours of cutting, pinning, sewing, more cutting , more pinning, trying on the mannequin and  more sewing.

For the corset portion I gather together, and regather laces and fabric I think will work well together. Some of them are applied by machine, however much of the work on the bodice is done by hand. Puzzling it together is time consuming, but delightfully rewarding. I often include pieces of fine bridal lace and Italian lace my mother-in-law graciously brings back to me when she visits family in Italy. I hope you love that piece of my heart included on your gown.

I’ve added corseting to the back of my gowns, which is simply a design feature that I love.  Some of the gowns have the corseting down the sides, again this is just a design feature, that adds a bit of romance to the gowns. With or without , the bodice stays in place because of the bustier it is built on.

As with all bridal gowns , there most likely will need to be some alterations. Gowns that are made with the bride being able to visit the seamstress have several fitting to make sure the dress fits properly. I truly wish I could have every bride in my home, however not having your body here , I am unable to do those  last detailed alterations.

Katherine