raori

living handmade

Tag Archives: wedding dress


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Stacy’s beautiful Wedding Photo shoot in Thailand

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A few years ago I tailored a wedding gown for Stacy in Denver. Her and her (now) husband are Wedding Photographers, so they went to Thailand to shoot some stunning pictures showing beautiful Stacy in her raori dress. You can check out the result on her website, and here are a few of my favourite shots I would like to share with you. Photos courtesy of Gillespie Photography. Thank you Stacy for this lovely adventure with you 🙂

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Making a wedding dress

There is something very romantic and sweet about making a wedding dress for someone… I’m always so happy to be given that honor. It’s also a lot of nerves involved when I make a wedding dress; it has to be perfect for that big day! There is no room for mistakes on white silk and lace…
When I make dresses like this to measure, it’s really “old style”. What I mean is that this is how clothes used to be made at the tailor’s; a sketch, a photo, choosing the fabric, maybe trying on something similar, but not being able to see the actual garment until it’s finished. There is certainly something exiting and beautiful to make clothes like this. It makes me think back on the long history of my profession and why I love what I do so much! I think the best part in working “old style” like this, is that the bride can decide fabrics, style, feeling, length and fit all by herself (with my counseling of course!) This particular dress was custom made for Stacy in Colorado. You can check out the photo shoot she made with the dress in Thailand on her blog.


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How to make “French Seams” (pretty inside seams)

 
 



This is a little sewing tutorial on how to make a beautiful “French Seam”. This can be used instead of amateur looking zig-zag on a garment in woven fabric. It takes a little longer to make, but the result is spectacular and looks very haute couture! Let’s start 🙂


Haute Couture French Seams


1. When cutting out your pattern pieces, always add 1,5 cm in seam allowing.



2. Let’s say you’re making a skirt. Normally you would put, let’s say, the side seam, right side to right side. When you make a French Seam, you put the wrong side to wrong side instead, so that your right side will be the side you see. It will look, at first, as if your finished garment will have the seam on the outside. Which is true, up until this point 🙂



3. So, stitch with a straight seam, 0.75 cm from the edge of the fabric (normally the edge of the presser foot of the sewing machine.

 
 
 
4. Cut away the un-even edge, leaving about 4 mm “clean cut” edge, along the seam. The reason you don’t stitch 4 mm in from the beginning is that fabric naturally moves and might distort the seam a little. It’s prettier to do it like this, and with a little practice you’ll do it faster than one-two-three!
 




5. Next step is to iron the seam open or flat together to one side if the edges are too sensitive. YOu are still working on your “right side”, the outside of your skirt.

 
 
 
6. Turn the skirt inside out, so that you are now working on the inside (the wrong side). This is where your French seam will be. Iron your seam flat and pretty, edge to edge, so that the seam it self is really on the edge.



 
 
 
7. Now, sew along the freshly ironed edge, presser foot against edge, about 0.75 cm. Make sure that your raw edge (the one on the inside now) is covered by the final seam. If not, you will find yourself with ugly small threads on the outside of your skirt, very hard to cut or trim away. It’s better with a wider seam if you are not sure 0.75 cm will cover the raw edge. 

 

 
 
 
8. Once you are finished with your final seam, move your skirt back to the iron and iron flat against one side, making sure it’s smooth and nice on the outside (the right side). Voila, your finished seam of the inside of your skirt. Very, very pretty and very professional!
 

 

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Prettiest hem for silk and chiffon



This is a little sewing tutorial on how to make a beautiful “mini hem” on a thin chiffon skirt, wedding dress or anything else in a thin woven fabric. This hem works particularly pretty on “curved” endings, like a circular skirt. This hem is so small and makes pretty waves at the bottom of your garment, the smaller the seam is, the “wavier” it gets. Haute couture and high class sewing, but oh! so easy once you’ve gotten the hang of it 😉 It’s quite similar to making a “French Seam” actually, the same principles. Here we go!


Haute Couture Mini hem


1. This seam will need about 1,5 cm seam allowing, so go ahead and add that for the hem.













2. Stitch on your machine, about 0.75 cm from the edge of your fabric. Or presser foot wide. Stay straight, if the fabric edge makes an ugly curve, don’t follow it! Stay straight and nice and sew a straight seam all along the edge of the fabric.



3. Cut away the excess fabric along the edge with very sharp scissors, leaving about 2-3 mm of a clean cut edge. 

(The reason you don’t stitch this close to the edge from the start is that the machine thread and needle are pretty thick, compared to the fine threads in your fabric, and the fabric will rather pull away its threads where the machine needle hits, and you will end up sewing in thin air with the loose fine threads of the fabric hanging in the air together with the seam 🙂





4. Once you’re done cutting away all the excess fabric, fold the edge carefully back and iron flat so that the seam will stay about 1-2 mm from the edge.



5. Stitch down ON the previous seam, making a seam 1-2 mm from the edge. 




6. Iron back the seam one last time, so that the seam is now 3-4 mm from the edge.





7. Finally, stitch on the previous seam. Make sure you really stitch ON the old seam, otherwise you will have two parallel seams close together, not very professional 😉




 
 8. Iron flat and the seam will look something like this! Finished!
 
 
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