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Mostly Wedding and Fashion with a little fun thrown in on the side :)

Image: Elizabeth Messina
http://www.kissthegroom.com

Printed Chiffon Summer Dress

Three years ago, I wore a dress I made to the annual Festival of Arts/Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach.  Ever since then I have made it into a sort of tradition to make a dress specifically to wear to the event.  Last year, I made this strapless blue and white dress:

This year I wanted to make something very feminine and soft.  Since I did not have a lot of time to sew, let alone draft a pattern (and do a muslim mock up!) due to my schedule, I decided to try out another pattern from Burda magazine.

Image from Burdastyle.de
You can find the pattern here!

Chiffon and ruffles... can you get more girly and summery than that? :)
This pattern is from the 7/2010 issue of Burda.  This is my second time using a pattern from the magazine and I love it.  I have not tried out many commercial patterns, but of the ones I have (Vogue, Simplicity, McCall) Burda has been my favorite to work it.  I rarely have to do much alterations to the pattern itself and I love their straightforward instructions (if you are a beginning sewer, the magazine may be challenging as they only provide the absolute bare minimum when it comes to constructing the garment).  I decided to pick out a printed chiffon for the dress, but keep with the same nude color scheme which is very trendy this year.

Some changes I made to the pattern:

• Omitted the last layer of chiffon.  It seemed too long for me, but now when I look at the photos maybe I should have added it, lol.... but also a basic design rule is things look best in odd numbers!
• I narrow-rolled hem each ruffle.  You cannot see from the photo above, but they had left the edge of each ruffle raw and did a fray effect.  I wasn't a big fan of the result.
• Decreased the width of the neck ruffle slightly. Also made the first ruffle a bit wider.  The length stated in the magazine gave me a very pregnant look from the side, lol.  If I did it over again, I would drop the empire waistline to help even out the layers.
• Instead of sewing two layers of chiffon together to act as a lining, I decided to line the dress with satin. I was afraid three layers of chiffon fabric wasn't opaque enough to wear the dress out in the sun :P

Other than that, I stayed pretty close to the pattern. Although a bit time consuming due to the layers, it is a rather simple and straightforward pattern!  Out of the three dresses I have made for the Pageant, I received the most compliments on this one :)

 

Can't help but laugh sometimes at the seriousness of "modeling," lol :P

You can find more photos at my BurdaStyle page:
http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/ruffle-printed-chiffon-summer-dress

So light and airy, perfect for the absolutely beautiful summer day we had. Actually, it was SO sunny that a lot of the photos came out hazy! :/

The day of I did my hair in a curly-style messy bun and paired the dress with pink crystal chandelier earrings, a diamond necklace my mom gave me ♥, brown oversized Gucci sunglasses and a vintage Gucci wristlet (we're in Laguna after all!), and nude wedged slingbacks from Naturalizer (I'm usually not a fan of Naturalizer other than work pumps, but these were cute and super comfy, win win since we did a lot of walking!)

By the way, this is my fifth year in a row to the Festival of Arts/Pageant of the Masters.  If you live in Southern California and have never been to it, I highly recommend it.   It is a truly unique art event... I look forward to it every year now!

Backstage

Backstage at the Fall Winter 2011 2012
Elie Saab Couture Fashion Show

Breathtakingly beautiful...

Opening Day, Hats Galore

If you live in San Diego, you know next week is opening day at the Del Mar Racetracks... which means hats hats and more hats!  Opening Day is known for all the ladies wearing hats-- there is even a hat contest.  Some people choose simple hats while most dress to impress.  I've been fortunate to have been able to take millinery classes from the most well-known milliner in San Diego, the owner of Designer Millinery!  Diana has made hats for Oprah, Alicia Keys, etc as well as a lot of the tv news people here in San Diego.
 

(images property of Diana Cavagnaro of Designer Millinery)

Again, I feel very fortunate to learn the trait from Diana herself.  Everything from start to finish on all her hats are made by hand.  She is an amazing milliner.  It's great to see that hats are making a huge comeback mainly thanks to fascinators.  Hope you have your hat ready for opening day at the races!

A Royal Wardrobe

I usually don't follow "celebrity" styles, but ever since Prince William and Kate (Catherine) Middleton came to visit LA it seems like everyone has been talking about what she's been wearing!  I think every girl would love to have her royal budget.  While I think she tends to dress a bit old for her age, she always seems to stay classy and sophisticated (albeit a bit simple).   It would be great to see her wear something more fashion forward... especially since it seems like she's continuing to wear pieces from Alexander McQueen.  And no one knows drama like McQueen!

 All images found through google search :)

Love this white McQueen coat.  Ever since I took a tailoring class,  I have grown to love and appreciate a good tailored garment, especially coats... which makes me sad that it's never cold enough in Southern California to wear one :/

I love that she added some color in her wardrobe.  Her usual dark colors  and creams age her, in my opinion!  Yellow is one of my favorite colors to wear during the Spring and Summer months.  So bright and sunny :)  This dress is so cute!

This gray dress I love mainly because of its retro tailored look and the plunge collared back (minus the odd ripples at the waist).  The back neckline is something I would love to include in a future design!

 

And as someone who LOVES print, this hand-painted silk dress is perfect for a summer day in California :)

With her royal budget, it will be great to see how her style evolves.  She's comes a long way since becoming a duchess!

Making over a bedroom

Been super busy lately.  Every time I walk into my sewing room, I have all these unfinished projects staring at me but after a long day at work it is hard to work up the energy and motivation to sit and sew :/  Hopefully I will have some time to get those projects completed so I can upload them!

In the meantime, I came across Grosgrain's Bedroom Makeover project.

From what I can tell, she started with a blank canvas.  Everything from the shades, curtains, headboard, and duvet cover was made by her!  I really loved the end result.  I know how expensive it can be to furnish and decorate a room.   Hopefully I can undertake a similar project in the near future  :D

Vera Wang Spring 2011 Bridal

I always have respected Vera Wang as a designer, but until her Spring 2011 Bridal collection I never have been blown away by her bridal line.

Structurally beautiful and ethereal.

One of my all time favorite is the Dora gown.  Simple but beautifully elegant.  Can you see the gossamer fabric roses at the bottom of the gown?

Gorgeous.