This post was originally written on Weddingbee.com as Twirly Time! in August 2010
Pircilla of Boston, Vineyard Collection, Drew
That’s me below, twirling, with Becca’s niece. She had just watched Shrek before going shopping so we had to twirl like Princess Fiona. That was in August, 2009. I loved it, but boobs were WAY too big for the itty-bitty-boobies that the dress was cut for. I would have had to order up 4 sizes to get enough fabric in the bodice, and then have the rest of the dress taken in. Even my wonderful consultant, Michelle, didn’t advise this.
So I did some internet research and visited a local wedding dress seamstress to see about making this dress for me, in my size and with halter straps and pockets. I was quoted about the same price as the dress on sale and felt very uncomfortable with the seamstress; she didn’t want to make the dress because she hadn’t designed it. It wasn’t the idea of taking the 50’s inspiration and running with it, it was that she didn’t come up with the idea herself! Seamstress fail. I guess I know too much about sewing? I’d thoroughly inspected the dress when I’d tried it on the first time, specifically thinking that someone would be able to custom make it for me. Took the fun out it for her, I guess.
I continued to receive sales emails from Pricilla of Boston and an email from my consultant every 2-3 months. One day, while clicking through a sales email onto their website, I saw that there was a little symbol next to my dress. I looked around and figured out that the symbol meant that my dress could now be custom ordered to my measurements! WHOA! I called to find out what this meant and was told that for this dress, it would only be an extra $250 to get a custom muslin cut just for me with a full fitting and then another fitting when the real dress came in. OMG, totally worth it! I’m 5’2 and wear size 12 petite, and a 34DD, I didn’t think I would have an easy time finding a dress and assumed that I’d be spending around $200+ to have a dress rebuilt to fit me. Having a dress custom made to fit me for only $250 more than just the dress seemed like a steal to me. DEAL.
So, I made an appointment when I got the next email flyer for a sale (10% off, basically neutralizing the tax). I made an appointment with the same consultant I’d seen before and she had the dress waiting for me in the fitting room. She asked me if I wanted to try on any other dresses and I looked around and declined to try on more dresses, I just wanted MY dress. I’d already bought my shoes and brought them in with me, they were a PERFECT match.
We tucked a 1.5″ taupe ribbon over my neck to approximate the halter strap I’m going to have added on. I loved it and stood on the podium twirling and admiring myself in the dress before dashing back into the dressing room to grab my camera and take a few photos.
The seamstresses were all busy and couldn’t take my measurements, so Michelle (my consultant and I are on a first name basis now, she’s seem me in my skivvies a few times at this point) took my measurements and we went about ordering my dress. In order to make the strap I had to order an extra yard of fabric. 45″ wide, ivory silk taffeta, for only $20/yard! Even if the seamstress suggests bias cutting the strap’s fabric, I should still have enough fabric for pockets! I also ordered an extra yard of the tulle to make my own veil with. I think that was $8/year, but it’s polyester, not silk; but at least it’ll match perfectly!
Before my muslin fitting, I took myself to Sol, across the street from Pricilla of Boston, and got the most expensive bra I’ve ever owned. It’s amazing and totally holds up and locks in “the girls.” I test drove it at my cousin’s wedding last week.
(sorry gals, I totally forgot to take any photos of either fitting, yes I had two)
I had my first muslin fitting in mid May. It was more stressful than fun 
and I couldn’t sleep the night afterward. First off the torso was 2″ too long and with my boobs properly supported I needed to have the top inch of the zipper let out 1.5″ and the skirt was too long. I couldn’t zip my custom dress all the way up! That was the worst part of dress shopping, and now it was haunting my fitting. The seamstress said she could let it out in an hour and I went to get a light lunch.
The one thing that did make me feel good about my dress was making the sides more fitted, adding boning to the sides for structure and to hide my bra line, and loosing 3″ overall of volume in the skirt by tapering out the tucks on the hips all the way to the hem line. I was not excited by all the tucks that had to be made under my bosoms to shorten the torso and weird way pinned hem sat. I couldn’t sleep that night because I was so worried about how my dress would fit! I had ZERO anxiety when picking my dress, but my first muslin fitting caused major anxiety. WTF?
At 4 AM, after rolling around in bed for 3 hours, I emailed the store (they only have 1 email address? yeah, really weird) and said that I was up all night thinking about how my dress fit and wanted to make it even shorter still (so that it’s the same length on me that it is one the runway model), and that I wasn’t sure I liked how it was fitting, especially around my tummy. After I sent the email, I went back to bed and CRASHED.
In the morning I got a call around 11 AM (yes, I was awake, thankyouverymuch) and spoke with the seamstress. She said I could come in around 2 that day. I cleared my calendar and made sure to get there on time. I tried on my dress, full of pins and shortened another 1.5″ to a 3.5″ total, and was assuaged. It was all in my head! The torso fit the way it fit because my butt is in the way on the back side of the dress and I’m OK with that because I can’t change it.
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