Brigitte Bardot's Gingham Wedding Dress

Styled after the dress worn by Brigitte Bardot designed by Jacques Esterel 1959. There is actually a rare Prominent Designer sewing pattern of this dress as well as a slightly easier to find Advance 9283 sewing pattern, which i of course found after i had already made my own pattern. Sigh... Anyway i had quite a time with the ginham fabric, it was 100% cotton very nice weight and texture but the print was about 2'' off the grain on one side, so the checks seemed to be sliding down hill. I have run into this problem a lot with stripes, plaids and other such prints on cotton. So getting the pieces to line up was nearly impossible, though i think it turned out well despite a few lines being slightly off. Other than that the dress went together quickly. I gathered the eyelet lace myself and made matching covered buttons, i decided to do a bias belt for a little interest.  I also made the short sleeve version earlier this year but never got around to writing about it.

Jackie Kennedy's Pink Suit

 

Styled after the pink double breasted Chanel styled suit (was actually a copy made in the US with Chanel fabric) worn by Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy in 1963. The color is described as anything from strawberry, watermelon or just pink. I chose a bubble gum shade in a woven cotton boucle suiting. I went with princess seams instead of darts for my client due to her full bust, you tend to get a nicer fit this way than you would with darts. I also added back darts for a slightly less boxy shape.

 Accented with a navy blue collar and trim, double pockets on each side, fully lined in navy blue satin, gold buttons. The skirt is a simple high waist straight cut with a back button and zipper closure.

Sookie Stackhouse's Red & White Floral Halter Dress

 This was a custom request, styled after the dress worn by Anna Paquin as 'Sookie Stackhouse' on the show "True Blood''. Now I will admit I have never seen the show and was only going by pictures. I used a cream and red floral cotton and combined two patterns: The body of an out of print 2004 pattern, McCalls 4455 and my Marilyn Monroe blue polka dot sundress bodice pattern. From the drawing of the pattern you would think that all you would have to do is add a skirt and change the straps. I have used the McCalls pattern a few times and always end up making several alterations. The bust doesn't fit as snugly under the breast as the Marilyn pattern, its a drawstring/elastic across the top edge and it doesn't gather as much over the bust lining, its really meant for an A/B cup at the largest. The basic body shape though worked well with only minor adjustments at the hip. I added a simple two width gathered skirt to the bottom edge of the bodice, some elastic across the top back edge and did a button halter strap at the back neck. The entire bodice is lined in cotton i did put boning in the front and side seams to keep the waist smooth and bra cups are sewn inside the bust.