Dinosaur Wedding Dress

Over the weekend my best friend and her partner had a party to celebrate ten years of being together…and they got married at the same time!  They kept the wedding a secret, so most guests had no idea they were coming to a wedding until the ceremony began!

For many years, the groom had often joked about wanting to dress up as a dinosaur on his wedding day, so when I found out that they were planning a wedding, I immediately asked him if he was going to be dressing up as a dinosaur.  He said no – no doubt much to his fiancee’s relief – and that’s when the inspiration struck for my own wedding outfit!  Obviously I was planning on making a dress to wear, but when the idea popped into my head to use dinosaur-print fabric, I just went with it.  Perhaps dinosaurs are not traditional wedding attire, but this wasn’t a traditional wedding…and I knew the groom would like it!

The Dinosaur Dress

I ordered the fabric from Sparkly Fabrics, which I was bit nervous about because I’d never heard of it, but it was brilliant service and it arrived the very next day, so I was pretty impressed.  The fabric is a Timeless Treasures print, and look at that selvedge!!!  I have saved it as it is too cute to throw away!

Dinosaur footprints!

The pattern I started with is the Eliza M Vintage Eliza dress pattern, and this dinosaur dress is what I had in mind when I used the pattern last time for the Gin Festival dress.  I was disappointed with the quality of the pattern and I changed the design of it last time, and this time I wanted to make a few more changes to make it look exactly how I wanted.  The main thing I wanted to change was the neckline, which I thought came up too high on the Gin Festival dress.  I lowered it by almost two inches and added in the sweetheart dip at the centre front.  I also changed the shoulder straps, thinning them out a little as they were too chunky before.  I kept the waistband that I drafted last time and made a gathered skirt again – this time a couple of inches longer.

Just before the wedding

What I have ended up with looks a lot more like the By Hand London Kim pattern, except that the front doesn’t have princess seams – only waist darts – and the back doesn’t have any darts at all.  So it’s actually better in terms of pattern matching, and it’s quicker to sew.  I think I got a good fit, too, so overall it’s a win and I may well use the pattern pieces again.

Alterations to the neckline and straps

I’ll have to think of a name for the pattern: it feels incorrect to call it the Eliza dress because I altered the pattern pieces so much.  Crucially, though, the changes I made only made it look more like it was supposed to in the first place according to the picture on the pattern envelope – so I guess it’s a ‘redrafted’ Eliza dress – with a waistband and a different skirt.  Whatever.  I’m even boring myself now.

Back view – concealed zip

I used a concealed zip for the back which worked out pretty well, except I totally didn’t realise I hadn’t fully zipped it to the top for the photo below of the back – hahaha!  I can’t be bothered to put the dress again to get another photo of the back – so this is what it looks like when it’s partially unzipped. LOL.  Also this was before I had straightened my hair.  Nevermind eh.  Later that evening my husband noticed the zip and zipped it up properly for me!

Whoops…

And here is a photo of me and the bride.  She is wearing a gorgeous 50s style polka dot dress with a big frilly petticoat underneath, and she had her hair and make up done by a make up artist who specialises in retro/vintage styling.  Doesn’t she look beautiful!!

Frocks!

It was a brilliant wedding and I got to spend time with some very dear friends who I don’t get to see as often as I would like to – friends who I spent the majority of my formative years with!  We no longer all live nearby one another and we have very different lives now, but there’s a bond between us that, as far as I am concerned, will always be there. It was fabulous to all be together dancing to Pulp and taking lots of silly photos (which I will save them the embarrassment of posting here).

Congratulations to the happy couple xxx