I let you have a sneak peak into my DT coursework back in March (oh my, it’s really been that long?!) and was asked to share the final product. So, having finally finished last week (and, due to my leaving the written work to the last minute, did okay, but not as well as I probably could’ve done) here are a few photos of it:

With petticoat

Without petticoat

Apologies for my having to model it – I didn’t want to, but the dress fitted me and I had no time to find someone else. I calculated that it took me 30 hours in total to make, 5 of those hours spent on that hand-beading… I now have a new admiration for hand-beaded garments. The little roses you can see on the strap are clip on and actually there to disguise the hole I accidentally made with the iron! But sshhh, they are a ‘feature’.

Details, details, details

Errm… what else? Oh, the ‘dress’ is actually in 3 parts – a bodice, a skirt and a petticoat. Because the brief was to create a wedding dress which could be re-worn/reused rather than sitting in a cupboard for the foreseeable future. Hence the colour choice and the mix ‘n’ matching going on. May I add I dislike weddings, so I was pretty much coerced into doing this… I wanted to do a recycled garment but apparently that has no commercial aspect… ERR HELLO, there are numerous brands doing rather successfully with recycled garments… but hey ho, what can you do.

I took inspiration initially from 1940s make do & mend, but due to the ‘modern market’/commercial stuff, it adapted into late 1940s styles (those buffs amongst you may notice the sweetheart neckline) with a big poof making it more 1950s (in my view) and more appropriate to the majority of modern folks, who like poofy apparently. However, it has straps! Which I am told is abnormal in bridal-wear atm because most dresses are strapless. Errm… it was not aimed at a traditional white wedding market btw, but I still wanted to make quite an elegant dress… because I guess most people want to look elegant on their wedding day.

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Anyway, there it is more in context. Just so you can kind of understand where the design is coming from. Also, thanks to all the birthday wishes last week and sorry for being completely absent all week. It has been the hardest & longest week of (school) work I have done in… err… my entire life. Thankfully, DT coursework is done, art exam is out the way and things are slowly going back to normal. Only a copious amount of revision to do! Which, although sounds horrid, is somehow more manageable in my head and may in fact mean that more meaty posts may pop up again. Celebrations all round!