Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Let's talk wedding dresses!

Enough time has passed that I think I've told all the people who need to know in real life - Lee and I got engaged.  I know this may seem strange to my blog friends, but I'm one of those weirdos who isn't on Facebook so that when Lee proposed around the winter holidays, I couldn't just post a status update (besides, who wants to find out that way?)  For the last few months, I've been catching up with friends and family.  It's been great to have happy news to share and then to learn about what's been going on in their lives.  So... if you know me in-person and this is the first you're hearing of this news, call me!  I have exciting news to share and want to know what you're up to!

All that frontspeak before we get to the good stuff.  We haven't picked a date, but of course, I am thinking of dresses.  I've been looking at ready-to-wear dresses and haven't really been all that inspired.  I guess I'm kind of boring.  I don't want a dress with a train (why would you want to drag all that expensive fabric on the ground?!) and I don't want to look like a layer cake.  Because I have ruled these two things out, I feel like there are few options to draw from. 

Sewing patterns don't offer much interest either, because I think most people either buy dresses or are pretty happy with the standard ballgown, mermaid, or full skirted silhouettes.  And then my moment of zen came to me - I remembered being at the Strand bookstore years ago and coming across a book of Vionnet designs.  That is what I want.

Vionnet on display at the Met.  They probably won't let me borrow this.
Another Vionnet with simple lines and beautiful draping - I love the ombre effect in the skirt.

I almost didn't include this one because of the photo quality, and because it's got Crazy Cape going on but it is still gorgeous and I can forgive the cape.
And so where to start for a dress like this?  After turning up my nose at all the readily available bridal and evening patterns available from Vogue and Simplicity I then remembered that the internet is a big place.  And you can find vintage 1930s patterns somewhere on the internet.  Turns out eBay isn't such a great place.  Etsy is even better.  I ordered one of these to make a muslin.  The reviews on PatternReview aren't exactly glowing but I figure this is worth a try.

OOP Vogue 2241, a reproduction of a 1934 dress. Stunning!
I did keep looking around and hit the motherlode when I found Mrs. Depew on Etsy.  All I can say is this is an Amazing Work of Love.  She is an avid pattern collector turned pattern designer who is digitizing and selling vintage patterns for download that can be graded to any size.  I am intrigued to say the least and will work up the courage to try this.  Sometime soon.  The selection is amazing and overwhelming.  I scoured the internet for that one Vogue pattern but here Mrs. Depew has 4 patterns that I want to try - FOUR! 

And just for good measure because there are other beautiful dresses from other eras:


28 comments:

  1. Congratulations! Love the styles you are leaning towards.

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  2. Congratulations!!!! I'll have to check out Mrs. Depew myself.

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  3. congrats and any of those 1930's dresses would be gorgeous.

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  4. Ah, SO many congratulations to you both! Such exciting times for you!

    All the patterns above are gorgeous. I'm so glad you mentioned Mrs Depew; I will check that out.

    Enjoy your research!

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  5. Congratulations on the engagement! It is such exciting news - and now a wedding dress to plan and create...lucky you!

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  6. Congratulations! I love your simple wedding dress style choices, I'm very much in agreement with your assessments of trains and the "layer cake" look. Can't wait to see the dress you pick!! :-)

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  7. Wow, congrats on the engagement, these dress are all so beautiful, I like the direction you are going in for choosing your wedding dress, very classy

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  8. Congratulations. Beautifulnstyles to choose from.

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  9. Congratulations and very exciting that you plan on making your dress I can't wait to follow along. I love all those 30's gown patterns, any of them will look gorgeous.

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  10. Congratulations. I like a lot of those beautiful simple lines you are looking at. Good luck. You are not alone not being on Facebook!

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  11. Congratulations Melissa!! to both you and your fiance. I absolutely love the dress designs you have chosen; so elegant and classy. You are going to look sensational on The Day :)

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  12. A big congratulations to you Melissa!!!

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  13. What a most exciting project! Your inspiration dresses are divine, and I hope that you can find a good pattern to start from. Keep us posted on your progress...

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  14. Amazing wedding dress is described here. Wedding dress styles here are unique as well as fashion following.

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  15. Congratulations! Love those dresses. Will be hard to choose.

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  16. Congratulations Melissa! Have you seen this girl's version of the Vogue dress? http://familytrunkproject.com/sewing-projects/partnership-celebration-dress/ and her occasion photos are here: http://espanaphotography.com/blog/2010/03/24/davidemilys-partnership-celebration-portland-wedding-photographer/

    You might find something on evadress.com too.

    Kathleen

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    1. Wow, thanks KathleenS. Her version turned out beautifully. I hope I don't have to make any alterations, it sounds tricky.

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  17. I heartily second the evadress recommendation, especially as many models are already graded for a wide range of modern sizes. But also you may want to take a look at the original http://www.ebay.com/itm/VIONNET-Japanese-Dress-Pattern-Book-/360445454575?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53ec3928ef in Japanese but highly recommended as having everything you need to actually make each dress..

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    1. M-C, that is quite a find! Thanks for pointing me to that, I had no idea that book existed.

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    2. There's a book (expensive) called Madeleine Vionnet by Betty Kirke, which includes patterns taken from Vionnet dresses. The Japanese book may or may not be the same one - it looks different, but I can't quite tell.

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    3. The Kirke book is fine if you want to find out about her, no problem. But the Japanese book is the only one that gives a complete useable pattern for every dress, and includes basically every classic model made by MV.
      All credit for finding it should go not to myself, but to fashion-incubator.com :-)..

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  18. oh my! 1121 and 1124 is simply delicious!!! please please do make one of those cool dresses!

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  19. Melissa, Congratulations on your engagement. I can't wait to see your final chose regarding your wedding dress. I know that whichever dress you do choose, you will look amazing in it.

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  20. Hi Melissa,
    Congratulations on your engagement! I hope you and your fiancé will be as happy as I have been married to my very best friend! And thanks so much for mentioning my patterns. If you ever have any questions, just let me know. I'm happy to help!

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    1. Thanks Mrs. Depew! I will have to take you up on that!

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  21. Congratulations! Those are some seriously amazing dresses. I can't wait to see what you do!

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  22. Congratulations! I love your choices for the dress. One of my friends went with a 30s style (RTW, but still) dress and it was just gorgeous on her.

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  23. Could not be written any better. Reading this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this post to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!....

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