Combining delicate lace, colored pencil, and a paper-doll approach, Nancy used her skill as a pattern-maker to create her design #198:
I read the daily comics in the Sacramento Bee and always look forward to reading Luann . I saw the contest mentioned on the strip and thought I’d give it a try. At first I sketched Toni with my vision of her wedding dress, but quickly realized I am not talented enough to draw lace, believably so anyway. I was going to give it up, but in the middle of the night I woke up with an idea to use part paper and part real materials, collage-style. It took me parts of three days because I had to wait for the glue to dry on the lace before I could apply more lace and the beading. I drew Toni first, colored her skin, hair and makeup with colored pencils, and cut her out like a paper doll. I cut the lace from the edge of some trim I had and sewed the pieces in a V-shape to glue on the bodice, hips and hem.
Unfortunately the front turned out lumpy looking in the pic, but I didn’t want to start all over! I also cut some lace for little cap sleeves, and used pale pink pearl beads for the back buttons and head piece. The camera made the pearls look yellow on the head piece – argh! For the veil, I cut the same lace from the trim and sewed it around the edges of some tulle I had in my fabric stash. The background is a piece of cardboard I covered with black fabric to place the pieces on so the white dress would pop against the black, and give some dimension.As far as inspiration for the design, I felt that Toni would chose a dress with a simple silhouette for her and Brad’s small wedding, but not a plain unadorned dress. She is sensible but still feminine and would want a little tradition with some lace and a veil.
I am not a designer, however I am experienced in garment sewing and have sewn quite a few home dec projects over the years too. I’ve been sewing since I was 10, and let’s just say I am not a young woman anymore. Ha! I like to put my own spin on the commercial patterns I sew and have made some original patterns for myself as well. My next venture is to try my hand at draping. I am retired from the State of California where I was the Administrative Analyst for the California State Archives.
Retirement has afforded me the time to devote to my sewing hobby, finally!Since 2008 I’ve been an active member of Patternreview.com under the name SewLibra, and post reviews of patterns I’ve sewn along with tutorials. I’m not on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media that I could have shared my design with, so coming in at number 41 out of 600 plus entries isn’t too bad, imo. I’m grateful I got some votes! 🙂 There were some really stunning dress designs submitted in this fun contest and I enjoyed looking through them. Congratulations to the winner, Philip Gust!Nancy G.