Wedding dress for Amanda Weedon
modelled by client
Photographs with kind permission from Paul Johnson www.pjphoto.co.uk

Simple dress made in pale gold silk satin with an ivory/gold lace top layer. Lightly boned bodice with square neckline and high waistline seam with contrast band. Softly draping skirt spreading to a train at the back.

Amanda changed her mind four times about the sleeves... I made her some sleeve 'samples' to choose from in the end. Just one of each sort (short puff, gypsy, cap and longer puff) and then made the pair up for the one she chose. The final sleeve was a gypsy style in wheat coloured silk tulle with a lace edge to match the rest of the dress. We also used the silk tulle to make the under bust band to help tie all the elements together.

Guide Price: £1940

Basic making (45 hours) £990
Materials as shown £950
The lace Amanda chose was £125 per metre and we needed 5m! Choosing a less costly lace would reduce the overall cost of this dress considerably.

Wedding dress for Amanda Weedon
modelled by client
Photographs with kind permission from Paul Johnson www.pjphoto.co.uk

Simple dress made in pale gold silk satin with an ivory/gold lace top layer. Lightly boned bodice with square neckline and high waistline seam with contrast band. Softly draping skirt spreading to a train at the back.

Amanda changed her mind four times about the sleeves... I made her some sleeve 'samples' to choose from in the end. Just one of each sort (short puff, gypsy, cap and longer puff) and then made the pair up for the one she chose. The final sleeve was a gypsy style in wheat coloured silk tulle with a lace edge to match the rest of the dress. We also used the silk tulle to make the under bust band to help tie all the elements together.

Guide Price: £1940

Basic making (45 hours) £990
Materials as shown £950
The lace Amanda chose was £125 per metre and we needed 5m! Choosing a less costly lace would reduce the over all cost of this dress considerably.

Wedding dress for Amanda Weedon
modelled by client
Photographs with kind permission from Paul Johnson www.pjphoto.co.uk

Simple dress made in pale gold silk satin with an ivory/gold lace top layer. Lightly boned bodice with square neckline and high waistline seam with contrast band. Softly draping skirt spreading to a train at the back.

Amanda changed her mind four times about the sleeves... I made her some sleeve 'samples' to choose from in the end. Just one of each sort (short puff, gypsy, cap and longer puff) and then made the pair up for the one she chose. The final sleeve was a gypsy style in wheat coloured silk tulle with a lace edge to match the rest of the dress. We also used the silk tulle to make the under bust band to help tie all the elements together.

Guide Price: £1940

Basic making (45 hours) £990
Materials as shown £950
The lace Amanda chose was £125 per metre and we needed 5m! Choosing a less costly lace would reduce the over all cost of this dress considerably.

Wedding dress for Amanda Weedon
original design sketch

The sleeves were changed from this design during the making process to off the shoulder short puffs in wheat coloured silk tulle.

Wedding dress for Amanda Weedon
Toile Fitting

A 'toile' is a practice run of the dress out of cheaper fabrics so adjustments can be made without wasting the expensive lace etc. A toile fitting never looks very exciting, indeed I expect a lot of brides go home a bit worried afterwards but as you can see from the finished pictures, the final dress looks a lot better!

In Amanda's case the skirt of the toile was cut from the 'proper' fabric as a cheaper substitute would not have hung correctly and any adjustments may not have been the same for the real fabric.

Wedding dress for Amanda Weedon
detail of partly made dress on the stand

Wedding dress for Amanda Weedon
modelled by client

Amanda's final fitting, front of dress

Wedding dress for Amanda Weedon
modelled by client

Amanda's final fitting, back of dress and train