It goes like this:
6 months before the wedding: get engaged, get engagement ring, tell all your friends, pick a date, pick a location, celebrate!!!
5 months before the wedding: Plan an extravagant wedding in Las Vegas, invite all your friends and family, buy bridesmaid gowns, select invitations, select wedding rings, celebrate!!!
3 months before the wedding: Send out save-the-date cards, book the flights, book the rooms, book the chapel, book the photographer, order the tuxedos for groom and groomsmen, celebrate!!!
2 months before the wedding: Book the hotel caterer, order the flowers, book the limousine, realize you have gone over your budget.
1 month before the wedding: Get blood tests, get marriage license, book a tanning session, book a nail session, book a hair-do preview,book a make-up artist, plan a bridal shower, plan a stag night, book a minister, apply for another credit card to cover all the “extras” and the honeymoon.
5 days before the wedding: Panic and drive to David’s Bridal and buy a gown off the rack only to be told that they cannot do the alterations as they are booked solid with brides and bridesmaids and prom gowns. Panic and beg your soon-to-be-mother-in-law for a solution. Mother-in-law digs through her purse and finds a business card that was given to her last year when her own daughter got married and had alterations done way in advance.
Call Mrs Mole.
Bride says, “This isn’t going to cost too much is it?”
Why would shortening 2 layers of tulle, 2 layers of satin and a 4 point bustle cost much on such short notice? What a silly question.
She drops the bomb that she needs the dress in less than 4 days and it just does not matter that there are 12 gowns ahead of her, it is almost like I owe her this favor because David’s is booked solid. I agree to the work because her mother-in-law is nice.
Here is the 3 point bustle for the dotted Swiss tulle:
The one point bustle for the satin which will be covered by the tulle layer. (sorry about the wrinkles, I steam when everything is finished)
She gets everything hemmed and a 4 part bustle. The heavy satin layers are attached with the loop and have their own clear button while the lace and tulle layers are bustled up solo with 3 satin covered metal back buttons.
So with the bride done and dusted, I turned my hands to this little honey:
It is a custom ordered 1st communion dress that just needed to be hemmed. And I did finish another sheer, flowy silk jacket for Nancy. The fabric was quite nice and had some horizontal and vertical brush strokes that made it look like I cut the fronts differently, but I didn’t.
Nancy recently discovered that she was a Type 2 Summer coloring so we are concentrating on making clothes in her color palette. We have swapped some fabrics and clothes because funny enough we love each others’ colors but those colors don’t always love us.
Before I leave you to get on with your sewing, here is a great link to an article on recycling…turning crab shells into undies.
Thanks for stopping by!!!!
fit for a queen 
Thanks for this humorous but often true story. I hope you charged extra for the rush (4 DAYS) alteration.
Actually no I didn’t as the mother-in-law was so sweet last year…I believe in Karma so sometimes, not always, I just do the job and know I will get this favor back.
oh fer cryin’ out loud . . . I hope Mrs. Mole was suitably compensated for her overtime and stress…
Thankfully I can jiggle clients around and make all this work pretty well and just having a really clueless bride makes for a good blog post.
Wow! You’ve been busy! I do hope the first bride was shocked into some sense by your RUSH bill. Sheesh. How could you forget about the (almost) most important part of your wedding? And that is one beautiful communion dress. I love the fancy lacy overlay. The fabric of Nancy’s jacket is just beautiful. I still have so much to learn about playing with design/fabric.
Her bill reflected sewing 4 layers of fabric when in fact the tulle was merely cut with scissors so the labor was not as bad, just time consuming.It was a real treat to hem the communion dress and see a young client for a change that liked to laugh. I keep making that same jacket over and over for Nancy and she just keeps bringing me sheer silks and polyesters which surprisingly are the easiest to sew..If you keep the worst parts of the motifs away from the boobs, the rest do take care of themselves.
This bride must really believe in the term… RTW? What a dolt!
Pity the poor husband when her realizes this girl has no clue!
Eye watering stupidity! Did no-one in her family or entourage say ‘how about the dress?’. I hope you were properly compensated for the rush.Beautiful projects, I love the printed silk jacket.
Imagine the look on the face of the store clerks when she asked for alterations to be done at David’s! “You want what?” “Can’t be done!”
No matter how lovely her future M-I-L was last year I’m afraid that bride deserved an eye watering bill. Idiot. You sure are saving up your rewards for heaven Mrs Mole 😇
I’m expecting a TOL (top of the line) sewing machine waiting for me there! St. Peter will surely have a few repair jobs for me…and let’s not even start with the wings and feather repairs!
Honestly, you’re wasted in USA! Move here and make these….
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=gypsy+wedding+dresses&espv=2&biw=1436&bih=956&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=_QlOVfeuE-uy7Qbc0oHoDQ&ved=0CCAQsAQ
Oh Ruth, I have seen the UK shows about these weddings and I am amazed at what the seamstress in Liverpool can turn out! The thousands of crystals and miles of tulle would just do me in! Then after the grand wedding the brides starts her life in a trailer/caravan. I often wonder…where does the dress live after the event?
You know, reading through this I just KNEW you were going to be at the bottom of the list! Good for you pulling it off. Now you can advertise “wedding gown alterations guaranteed in 5 days… For twice the cost!”. Your friend has picked very pretty colour/colours for her top!
I should try that, Linda….ha ha!
It ISNT your fault about David’s? Huh, I just assumed it was. That communion dress is so sweet!
Even though I live a mile from a David’s…we is not so connected!
I still smell a plot!
Mrs. Mole, you took the words right out of my mouth with your response to the big UK wedding dresses. Those pictures reminded me of the TV show “My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding”. Each bride tried to outdo the previous one by going with a bigger and gimmicky-er dress. They could not pass through the door or fit inside the limo taking them to the venue.
One of my favorite wedding dresses of all times was Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s. She could have had any size gown and opted for something so simple, yet so chic.
Bigger isn’t always better. Your work, however, is always impeccable!
It also helps to have a body of a greyhound to carry off that dress…she was stunning! Thank you for your kind comments, Azar!
My best friend wore that David’s dress for her wedding two years ago! I wasn’t able to attend but recently we cracked the box open and had a look…she went through the whole rigamarole of the bustle with me as I’m always curious how other people do it (she had it altered at David’s)….and I shit you not, there had to be at least 10 points on that thing!! Buttons, loops, hooks, eyes, ties, inside outside satin tulle etc. Ridiculous. I said, I would have done this with one point, MAYBE two…it’s a very light weight dress, considering! (I just finished up a beaded dress that had to weigh 10lbs in the train alone and I only did one point for it…though if it breaks I don’t really care…that dress was a nightmare and I’m doubtful she’ll even make it to the altar)
I’m always looking for the simple solution….1, 3 or 5 points, buttons and loops. Sometimes it can go higher but with satin and lace, bustling them separately really helps with bulk and weight. Some bustles need stabilizing with a tail of grosgrain ribbon extended from the tail of the zipper inside to help too and always use small plastic backer buttons behind everything…flimsy fabric will rip and cause a hole and then what? Ruined reception…you/I don’t want that on our head!
Hilarious! I wonder if the dress is such a key part of the wedding that brides just avoid making a decision. Or they make a decision and then change their mind. If I tell the truth I bought one in the Liberty’s sale and then a few weeks before my wedding I changed my mind and made a pink suit instead. And Nancy’s fabric is really stunning – I like the jacket with the apparently different fronts. It will look so nice with denim, browns, white or light blues. A super, summer top.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if weddings took a turn and brides started wearing suits instead of meringue gowns? Makes my eyes water with delight!!!! Nancy loved her new jacket and now we will be dressing her in her best colors and she will be so happy!
How do you ‘forget’ to purchase your wedding dress? Or was it just anxiety paralyzing her from dealing with it? I don’t normally do alterations but caved in for a grad dress that needed hemming. I was told that it needed to be finished for May 22 – as I pulled into my driveway in the early evening on May 1st, her mom pulls in behind me and asks if the dress will be ready for tomorrow! She’s having photos done. Quick conversation about what was said when – then I took some deep breaths and said sure – I’ve had less time and more work to do for the dance studio – so why not. Her dress was finished with hours to spare. Her mom is exchanging weed eating our acreage (she has a landscaping business) for the hemming. It frees time up for my husband as he works long hours.
People cannot believe that these requests exist but they surely do and there is no end to them. At least you got something in return that you can use. We have so many lessons left to learn, Mitch…God bless You.
Hi 🙂 I am still catching up on your posts 🙂 I have a request. I have a large-sized bride with a swiss dotted tulle gown from Davids’. I saw the photo of a similar gown above 🙂 She wants a bodice made for her strapless gown. Gown is off-white/candlelight and I cannot locate the fabric. Do you know a source for it? Davids’ was VERY unhelpful with her 😦 I have noticed they tend to treat my larger sized brides terribly 😦 I am actually trying to talk her into a DRAPEY type of… sort-of sleeve…. if you know what I mean 🙂 She is just insecure about the look of her upper arms because of her size. I REALLY do NOT want her to pay me $150 or so to construct a bodice for the gown. She is on a tight budget 🙂 A fabric source would be GREATLY appreciated 🙂 I have located WHITE and IVORY. This is CANDLELIGHT or OFF-WHITE or BRIDAL WHITE……. You know EXACTLY what color I need 🙂 Any help would be MUCH appreciated 🙂 Thank you 🙂 CHERYL 🙂
I live in a small rural town with nothing but a shabby JoAnn’s so I can be of no help other than to say just type into Google what you need and want and see what comes up. On the West Coast there is Fabric Depot in Portland, Oregon and Britex in San Francisco and both will send samples. I’m sorry I can’t do more for you, Cheryl. I use tulle to cover arms, gathered gently front and back and tucked into the princess seam area in front and back and allowed to drape down the arm to make a very romantic sleeve/strap.