1930s Lemon Butterfly: repurposing a modern bridesmaid dress

In "Bridesmaid Revisited", I asked what does a bridesmaid do with her fabulous outfit after the wedding ceremonies are over. In this post, I'll show you another way I've repurposed my gorgeous yellow gown.

Every summer, the Art Deco capital of the world hosts the Napier Art Deco Festival. I bloom modestly in the midst of it because I live there. A modest and moral lady does have to be particular about what celebrations she exposes herself to from that era. Mostly I enjoy exploring the wide variety of fashion stylings that ladies of the period enjoyed, and creating portraits that salute them.

Desiring to celebrate the resourcefulness of the 1930s, and being a fashion frugalista myself, I give myself two boundaries.

1. I don't buy ready-made clothing from the city's plethora of specialist costume providers eager to tap my purse. I occasionally wander through their displays, but only for inspiration. Clothing comes out of my existing closet, and any new accessories required are made during the festival using my existing fabric and haberdashery stash.

2. I aim for verisimilitude rather than historical accuracy.

I have one other guideline that shapes my clothing choices. I'm not looking to emulate a promiscuous pin-up girl. I am interested in the moral women of the Depression era, whose courage, determination, and ingenuity formed the heroic linchpins of family stability in my Kiwi heritage. It's their legacy I want to honour as I enjoy my dress-up games.

The Satin Dress

The bridesmaid outfit I wore for my sister's wedding comprised of two pieces: a sleeveless, ankle-length, A-line underdress, and a lace overdress with angel sleeves and asymmetric hem. The lined satin underdress was designed to be worn without supportive underwear. Being extremely well-fitted, this modest lady won't wear it without something drapey over the top.

The Chiffon Shawl

Four square chiffon scarves sewn into a butterfly shawl created the perfect Art Deco answer as a modesty fixer, and it took very little sewing to accomplish it.

The two sides of the back are overlaid slightly, delicately secured from the top to midway with satin-stitched dots every couple of inches.

The backs and fronts are joined at the shoulder for about three inches, applying a reinforcing patch of bias tape to each side before sewing the two together with a decorative honeycomb stitch.

The two sides of the front are fastened with two gold buttons and a toggle crocheted from narrow satin ribbon.

The Silk Bandeau

The quickest way to get a 1930s look is with accessories. A headpiece is king.

I purchased this luscious silk sample during an extensive hunt for bridesmaid fabric for my sister's wedding. At only 10cm wide, the sample offered limited possibilities...you'd think.

But there are many ways to tie two ends. Bunch it this way. Turn it that way. Add a fulsome rose of satin ribbon and a squiff of floral mesh between... I was very excited with the result.

I hope you've seen something beautiful and inspiring today.

Look out for more Boutique Narelle posts detailing modest fashion techniques.

Fiat lux!
Narelle

Bridesmaid Revisited: a look at the sartorial details of my modest wedding glamour

After the deliciously romantic wedding day is over, what does a bridesmaid do with the gorgeous dress, the gasp-worthy shoes, the sparkly jewellery, the cute jar lantern hand-decorated for her by the bride?

My sister's forest wedding was four years ago this week. You can view the Boutique Narelle post about Sarah's special day here.

Today I'm revisiting the particulars of my luscious bridal array so that we can enjoy them together.

My Satin and Lace Dress

The *daffodil* stiff bridal satin and thick polyester lining were sourced from China (www.JayJays.com - best tip: always order fabric samples first). The pale yellow nylon lace was found at the back of a local general supplies shop. It took 5 months of effort to get that far. And a knobfustered courier, who wandered past the house and into my back garden with the delivery from China, and deposited the box amongst pots on a garden bed. Where I happened upon it a couple of days later, thankfully before it rained.

Sarah was a generous and thoughtful bride. She offered her maids a dress pattern that was flexible, suited to our different figures and tastes. She gave us a preferred colour palette, and the two of us individually hunted for fabric that would please both bride and maid. This was an extended shopping effort conducted from our residences in three different cities. We could not have done it without handy phone cameras and photo messaging. Clearly we all have good taste, because we all approved of each other's choices.

To avoid the prickle of nylon lace,

I covered the neck and armhole seams 

with narrow satin ribbon.

It took me seven weeks to create my gown. I sought professional tutoring to help with getting a perfect fit. It meant it wasn't a cheap dress, but it was the most luscious and best fitting gown I'd ever worn. It was designed for me, and I felt like a princess in it.

The frustrating part is that after 10+ years of not being able to put on weight, in the four months following the wedding I put on over a stone (6.5kg). I've dropped some of that now, which is why I was able to attempt this photo shoot. The gown does, however, give evidence of being under strain. The buttons down the back met perfectly on the day, giving one guest, who conveyed he has an eye for the particular, a focal point to ponder.

My Bejewelled Shoes

With leather upper and lining, these fit my feet perfectly and felt great...except when walking. The factory missed a key point that the sole ought to be level and without ridges. I liked the upper portions enough that I decided not to return them to China. Besides, China had been a last resort because I couldn't find suitable shoes in New Zealand. I took yellow Jandeys (a Kiwi flip-flop brand) sporting a yellow gerbera each (my addition) to wear for the more casual reception.

The winter primroses flowering when the jandals arrived gave inspiration for the summer gerberas... Creative note: I didn't find a glue that would adhere plastic to flexible rubber. I recommend tying the flower onto the thong with thread.

My Golden Coronet

Sarah planned to wear her long tresses loose with just a little bit caught away from her face. She enhanced this by crafting her own floral wreath using satin flowers and ribbon which she also used on her dress.

We had begun pondering bridesmaid hair styling when I spotted a hair band at Farmers department store that seemed to blend quite well with the floral theme. A bonus was it came in both silvertone and goldtone, offering options to suit the different skin colouring of the two bridesmaids. I sent a photo to Sarah. She liked it. We showed Bethel. She liked it. Bethel bought a silver one. I bought a gold one. Everybody happy.

My Lantern Bouquet

The bride didn't want her bridesmaids carrying flowers. Instead, she handcrafted for each of us a glass jar lantern toned to match our dress, using brown construction paper and yellow and white tissue paper for mine, red construction paper and pink and white tissue paper for coral-gowned Bethel.

Sarah placed four battery-powered tealight candles in each jar. Their flickering light reflecting against the coloured tissue paper lining, caused the jar to glow. It created a beautiful effect in the glade of the redwood forest. The lanterns also created a thematic reflection of the Bible that the bride carried instead of a floral bouquet.

My Bridal Emergency Kit

Fulfilling my handmaiden duties with aplomb would not have been possible without my Bridal Emergency Kit. See today's bonus bridal post for more details on what my kit contained, and how the kit saved the bride from a wedding day disaster.

I hope you've been inspired today by something modest and beautiful.

Fiat lux.

Narelle

Narelle's Bridal Emergency Kit: what to tote to prevent wedding day disasters

Having heard many horror stories of wedding day trauma caused by a variety of mishaps, I prepared a Bridal Emergency Kit to have handy on my sister's wedding day. I was determined that she would not suffer from any such distresses if I could help it.

Narelle's Bridal Emergency Kit

Stowed in a tote bin:

Bottled water
Include bottle of water+salt for hayfever cure (¼ tsp of ground rock or sea salt per litre of water)
Box of tissues
Small rubbish bag
Chair, footstool, cushion
Rain umbrellas or shade parasols
Cool-weather shawls for bride and maids
Handheld fans for hot weather
Non-messy energy snacks
Phone, payment card, and cash in case of vehicle breakdown or empty fuel tank

Stowed in a zipped purse:

Adhesive tack
Paper & pen
Wet wipes
Another small rubbish bag
Sewing kit (needles, reel of white thread, sharp scissors, straight pins, safety pins)
Painkiller (water bottle in tote bin)
Lens cleaner
Cotton buds
Bandaids
Mirror
Makeup
Nail file
Tweezers (I packed my SwissCard multi-tool)

The key to creating an effective emergency kit is envisioning likely difficulties. Of course, sometimes things happen that no-one would have imagined, and it's then you have to get creative with what you have.

On the wedding day, the nail file was needed to smooth the bride's rough shoe heels that were snagging and tearing her net petticoat.

The sewing kit was in high demand, used for finishing the principle bridesmaid's dress hem, fixing parts of the groom's costume, and cake decorating. (Scissors, needle, and thread to bind the flower bunches, straight pins to skewer the calligraphy poster to the icing, tweezers to position the sugar-sticky loose petals.)

There were two items I wished I had: an extra clothes peg to hang my music from the microphone cord when I played the piano at the reception (the peg I used at the wedding ceremony got lost in transit), and a cigarette lighter to seal the ribbon ends on the cake decorations when I became the emergency cake decorator.

I hope this list helps you and your loved ones be prepared for unexpected mishaps on your special occasion. Relax, laugh, work together, and I'm sure you'll have a good one.

Fiat lux.
Narelle

Click here to view more modest and gorgeous wedding details.

A Better Stripe: How to Upcycle a Miniskirt into a Pinny Apron

What might a modest woman do when she's given a miniskirt?

She might upcycle it. Here's the miniskirt I was given...

It looked worn and dirty, stapled together at the front, saggy and stained at the back. But the label said linen/cotton, so I thanked the giver with delight and gave the brief little skirt and its self-fabric tie belt several rounds of attentive laundering.

Many of the stains remained, but for what I had in mind for it, they would be in good company. With a crisper fabric in hand, I deconstructed the skirt, removing the side zipper and back pockets and unpicking the side seams.

Here's how I reconstructed it, turning a miniskirt into a pinafore apron.

1. Shape sides of pinny bib. Keeping the skirt front in same position for pinny, use the skirt back for the pinny bib. Flip the skirt back topside-down so that the waist band stays at the waist and the skirt hem is now under the chin. Fold under the extra width until it's a good fit at the shoulders, and stitch these flaps down the sides at the seam edge (but not across the top).

2. Reattach pockets. Cut and stitch linings for the two pockets, then sew them to the bib.

3. Shape upper edge of pinny bib. Pin about 5 inches of 1 inch cotton tape at centre front on the reverse side to stabilize the fabric (the linen had stretched and warped where the skirt got sat on). Sew a gathering stitch down each side of the tape, securing the stitches at the bottom end. Pull up the gathering threads, arrange the gathers, and handstitch the threads to secure the gathers.

4. Prepare skirt front. Stitch any seams or hems that were opened during the deconstruction phase. (Do this also with the waist edges of the bib.)

5. Join bib to skirt. Lay the bib waist on top of the skirt waist, making sure they are centred. Pin and stitch together.

6. Prepare straps. Cut tie belt at the halfway point. At upper edge of bib, insert raw ends of belt into the outside corners of the facing created when folding in the bib sides. Pin. Stitch across upper edge of facing.

7. Add hanger loop. Using a strip of cotton tape or bias binding, attach a bar behind one strap so you can easily hang your apron on a hook.

8. Sew button holes. Use an interfacing on the underside to give the buttonhole stability. Mark location for buttons and stitch on buttons.

I like that this apron style is cool and light, no bands around my waist, no dragging at my neck. I tried fastening the straps with just the button in the centre, but the apron shifted around too much as I worked. Adding the side buttons improved stability. If the apron needs to accommodate more bulk under it (likely in winter, when I wear more layers), I could place buttons at the hips and not use the upper and centre buttons.

The flower was glued to a button, which was glued to a felt dot, which was glued to an earring clip.

Now you know how to upcycle a miniskirt into an apron. I hope you've been inspired today to look at old garments as new possibilities.

Look out for more Boutique Narelle posts detailing liberating modest fashion techniques.

Fiat lux!

Narelle