Wedding Wiki Challenge Update

So remember the Wedding Wiki Challenge? We didn't get quite to 500 dresses tagged "Bridal" before the deadline, but if you add in all the ones tagged "wedding" we're there now, so I went ahead and donated the promised amount ($500) to Women for Women.

Have you all browsed this category? Check out this one and this one (I'm pretty sure Princess Leia got married in that one) and this one ...

The dress in this post is from Specialist Auctions -- so pretty!

Bells Are Ringing (plus new wiki charity challenge)

Rita at Cemetarian sent me this over Labor Day (pattern sellers: not unionized, don't get major holidays) and I think it's really sweet.

Even though pointy seam lines on a skirt always make me think of Tinkerbell (who has been COMPLETELY RUINED by Disney, thank you very much), I still think this would be a fabulous dress for a midday wedding (for the bride). I love that little jacket, so (I'll say it again) sweet. I want it to be made in champagne-colored silk faille, which would weigh ONE METRIC TON, but it would be gorgeous.

I like the non-wedding-y versions, too, but they all seem to require the wearing of massive girdle-type garments to get that smooth waistline, which I think is a bit much to expect of a gown that's NOT a wedding dress.

This also reminds me what a fantastic resource our Wikia Vintage Pattern Wiki is for brides -- here's the link to all the dresses tagged "Bridal": 179 patterns and counting! I think we should have another wiki contest: If we get to 500 honest-to-goodness wedding dresses uploaded and tagged by Oct. 1, I'll make a donation of $500 from A Dress A Day to Women for Women International, to help women around the world so they have the freedom to get married because they want to, not because they're forced to -- a freedom most of us take for granted. What do you say?

For a June (2010) Bride

I was just at a wedding where the bride's dress was *slightly* prettier and more elegant than this, but it's a close call. :-)

This is definitely a wedding dress for grown-ups; I wouldn't put this on someone in her early twenties. Or on someone who was getting married at noon; this is an evening dress. I might even consider making the front ruching and back swag in organza, and putting a few -- VERY SUBTLE -- tiny sparkly bits in it. Possibly. They'd have to be very subtle, though, or you'd go from Grown-Up Bride to Glinda The Good Witch in an eyeblink.

(The best part, though, is that I think you could just possibly hide a pocket in that back swag. I'd have to see the pattern, but I don't think it's entirely out of the question.)

This is listed by Michelle here, and it's sized at bust 34, hips 37 -- very reasonable. (It's listed for $150, but when you think of what wedding dresses go for, that's not out of line, either).

If you are a June 2010 bride and think this is your wedding dress, congratulations! And mazel tov! And hurry up, you've only got a year to get this thing made!

I always cry at weddings (research projects)

(Photo by lovedaylemon, used by permission)

Gail at the V&A emailed me to say that the museum is organi[s|z]ing a new exhibition on wedding fashion for 2011, and they need some help in creating a very large database of wedding fashions. They're looking for photographs of clothes worn for weddings from all cultures between 1840 and the present (and by "weddings," they include civil partnerships, yay).

You can upload up to three photographs from any wedding and the V&A would like the emphasis to be on the fashion (although they already have some lovely pictures of flowers and cakes).

Their only stipulation is that the couple should be named and the date of the wedding should be included. There are also some optional fields, such as location, religion of ceremony, and dressmaker/designer. The V&A would love to see some handmade dresses added!

I think this is a fantastic project (and I hope to be able to upload some photos myself)! Check it out here!

Is it Friday already?

It's been a busy week, and I'm unclear as to which day of it we have attained. But my sources say it's Friday, which means that Wendy of Pattern Stash is having a sale today, Saturday & Sunday. She'll be offering a 15% discount in place of the usual 10%. Use the code Voguesale.

At Pattern Stash, shipping is just a flat $2.50 for all your patterns, no matter how many patterns you purchase (in the US only, sorry)!

And at her new shop patternstash.ecrater.com all the patterns are new and uncut, and shipping is free.

That's her pattern there, that really 1960s bridal gown. I love that skirt and the short sleeves; not so sure about the chokey collars on the attendants' dresses.

Also, xstpenguin sent the embroidered logo for the Air Hostess Corps, from Urban Threads:




So. Awesome, yes?

APB on a BDP (BDP = Bridal Dress Pattern)

Jen at MOMSPatterns is trying to help a customer find the dress on this pattern -- not this actual pattern, which is for fabric roses -- but the dress that Vogue used as a canvas in the picture on this pattern envelope for the flowers that this pattern makes. Is that clear?

We're assuming that the marketing whizzes at Vogue would use one of their own patterns ON one of their own patterns, but nobody's been able to find this yet. Can you help?

Speaking of brides, I'm going to be a bridesmatron again in May! I'm very excited. [Not-so-interesting Erin trivia: thus far I have only stood up in the weddings of people named "Vanessa".] This is the dress my bride-to-be has chosen for us -- I really like it:




(NOTE: She is not getting it in BLACK. You guys know how I feel about that, and anyway, it's a May wedding. But you know what? If she asked me to wear black I would so totally do it. I even offered to wear purple if she wanted me to, and purple and I don't get along.)

This dress is from Watters -- does anyone have any helpful tips for dealing with them? They're saying "ten weeks"; is that for real, or a nervous-bride-buffer?

January: Nice Day for a White Wedding

Do you know what has always been one of my pet peeves? Brides who get married in the dead of winter in strapless or spaghetti-strap gowns. I know, I know, it's YOUR DAY, and you can do whatever you want, but is "whatever you want" to go around with goosebumps in all your pictures and a honeymoon with a brand-new head cold? (And no, a shawl doesn't really work.) I always think "Oh, she looks so beautiful ... and she'd look even better if she wasn't shivering ..."

Enter a dress like this, which is so gorgeous I almost want Mr. Dress A Day and I to renew our vows so I could get away with making (and wearing) it. (Although it's a BIT ostentatious for a vow-renewal ...)

I'd make it in peau de soie, maybe with little white velvet buttons (or, ooh, ooh, white velvet *piping* and midriff band).

If you're getting married in early 2008, you probably have plenty of time to make this or have this made (I'd wait until the weather cools off a bit before tackling velvet, but that's just me, still in Taipei, where it's 90F and even thinking about velvet leads to heatstroke).

The special bonus you January brides will get for picking a dress like this, and not something strap- or sleeveless? You won't have to spend every minute of the next five months doing (or thinking you should be doing) triceps dips.