the dress...

 from the moment you get engaged the most asked question besides 'when is the wedding?' is 'what does your dress look like?'  that question is tough to answer when you're planning to make it, without a pattern, and haven't even begun yet.  for a few months people seemed excited at the idea of my unknown dress, but when the wedding was about 2 months away and i was telling people at my shower that 'it looks really nice in my head" they were starting to panic!  i tried not to let it rub off on me, because it DID look nice in my head.  in a perfect world i was going to find a vintage slip somewhere that fit perfectly and then find this fabulous material, what that looked like i wasn't exactly sure, i'd know it when i saw it, & i would just sew it to the slip and that would be that...
i'm not sure why i was waiting so long to get started.  part of it was nerves, part of it was that i was getting in shape all summer and didn't want to have to alter anything, and i didn't want to make something and be sick of it by the time the wedding came.  i wanted it to be fresh and new.
one random day in september my fiance John and i went to our favorite local vintage store Another Man's Treasure in Jersey City.  i've had luck there in the past finding great dresses.  i looked on the vintage nightgown rack and ended up finding a silk slip from the 1930's for only $40!

and you know what, it fit like a glove!  it wasn't the exact shape i wanted, but i figured i could cut it up a bit and if it didn't work out...it was only $40!
the next day i went up and down the fashion district streets of NYC.  every store had the same flashy crap, and very pushy, unfriendly staff. not to mention how packed they are, you can barely walk around and when you do the salesperson is right there with you!!  my last attempt was a store that specialized in bridal fabrics which i figured would be pricey because the minute you mention wedding or bride to anyone they try to raise the price and take advantage you.  i wasn't making it easy to help me either since i didn't really know what i was looking for, it was 'in my head.'  the snotty old italian man who owned the place started showing me some of his best selling lace.  it was not for me style or price wise.  i tried to explain that i wanted something with detail, but primarily on the bottom of the fabric.  he laughed in my face and told me that he'd been in this business for over 60 years and that didn't exist!! where had i seen such a thing.  'in my head', i said.  he said i'd never find it.  i was more annoyed than worried.  i hadn't totally made it up, i knew it existed, somewhere!
a few days later i decided to go back into the city.  i ventured a bit further and came across a store called butterfly fabrics.  i knew that was a good sign because my grandmother loves butterflies, it gave me butterflies!  the jolly man that greeted me was a breath of fresh air and so was being in a NYC fabric store that you could actually move around in!  without pressure or staff up my butt, i found the bridal section.  i immediately feel in love with a fabric i was sure would be pricey.  i didn't even want to ask the nice man, but i did and it turned out being only $25 a yard.  again i had butterflies.  i had to leave the store and call my mom and say, 'i think i just found my dress!' she urged me to stop looking and go back at once and buy it! i did.  my eyes were tearing up.  i wanted to hug the man who helped me.  when i left i told him that he was 'by far the nicest man i've ever met in fabric!'  in total my dress cost under $170!
a few nights later while my fiance worked on some music in his music room i started working on my dress down the hall in my sewing room.   with the first cut of the vintage slip i knew this was it.  the fabrics were almost possessed.

it was like the dress was making itself.  i would cut something and think it was going to be one thing and the next minute it was something else, but in a good way.  i had some extra fabric towards the bottom of the lower back that i was about to cut off when it flopped over in my clenched hand, and suddenly it was a ruffle. and i loved it.

if anyone had asked me months, weeks, even days before, i would have never expected a ruffle anywhere, and yet there it was.  my dress wanted a ruffle and it got a ruffle.  i wasn't about to argue.

it became one of my favorite parts of the whole dress!  it all came together in about 5 hours.   i don't like starting projects i can't finish right away so i just kept working.  every once in a while i would call into the hall "i'm walking around" so that john would not come out and see me as i went into our bedroom to get a look in the full length mirror.  the whole time i was calling and texting my mom.  it was so much fun.  it was so hard to not run and show john because usually when i make something he's the first one i run to show off to, and i was so proud of this.
in the end the dress turned out even better than what i had imagined in my head.  and when i sat next to john on the alter i asked what he thought and he said, "that's the most beautiful dress i've ever seen!"