Crate & Barrel Love

I finally made the nearly two hour drive to Richmond to fulfill our Crate & Barrel registry yesterday. It's unfortunately the closest location to our home in Virginia Beach.

After I finished unpacking and washing all of our new everyday dishes and packing up our old set to be given to a friend, I was reminded of how much I love Crate & Barrel's use of typography when I took a look at the stacked boxes in the kitchen.

DIY wedding garter

To make my garter, I first purchased some light blue fabric [my "something blue"], chocolate brown ribbon & rosette accent, and ½" wide white elastic from Jo-Ann Fabrics. I used lace from my mother's wedding dress, but any wide lace will do.

To make the garter:
· Cut the blue fabric into a strip 3" wide by one and a half times the circumference of your thigh
· Fold fabric in half lengthwise, pin the 'right' sides together, and sew close to edge, leaving ends open
· Turn fabric inside out so that the 'right' sides are facing outward
· Iron the fabric so that the seam is in the back center and will be hidden against the lace
· Pin fabric tube on top of lace and sew lengthwise at top and bottom of tube, leaving ends open
· Wrap elastic around leg where you intend to wear your garter and find a comfortable fit; trim ½" longer than this length
· Attach a safety pin to the end of the elastic and guide it through the blue fabric tube, gathering the fabric & lace as you go
· Overlap the elastic edges ¼" and sew
· Fold in the unfinished edges of the fabric tube and hand sew together
· Hand sew edges of lace together
· Tie chocolate brown ribbon into a small bow; trim edges on the diagonal
· Hand sew rosette to center of bow
· Hand sew bow to outside center of garter

DIY flower girl dress

I looked at quite a few flower girl dresses before making the decision to sew it myself. I still had quite a bit of fabric and ribbon and a stash of appliques left from my mother's wedding dress, and an amazing family friend [and excellent seamstress,] offered to finish the dress and figured out how to turn the overlay of my mother's dress into the skirt of the flower girl dress [thank you, Norene!] I chose Butterick pattern 3351 for the simplicity of the design and appropriateness for a six year old. [Some of the flower girl dresses out there seem so over-the-top and way too grown-up...I really wanted something cute, youthful, and twirlable!] I absolutely love the final result, and it was practically free.














These appliques were scattered all over the skirt of my mom's wedding dress. One was sewn onto each shoulder of the flower girl dress, and two were used along with a hook and eye closure to attach the chocolate brown sash at the back.






















Photos by Dustin Francis

DIY wedding day clutch

While searching the web for an antique-looking but affordable silver purse frame to use for my wedding day clutch, I stumbled across a very helpful blog/online shop "for all bag making fanatics"! Lisa from U-handbag has some great tutorials, tips, and tricks to go along with her shop's selection of bag making sundries. I purchased my wedding day purse frame here and followed this tutorial. I highly recommend the Gutermann Textile Glue.

Something Old becomes Something New

My mother was generous enough to offer up her wedding dress to my scissors and allowed me to deconstruct it in order to make some accessories for my wedding day. The dress had plenty of beautiful fabric, lace, and appliques for me to work with, and it was really special to have a part of my parents' wedding become a part of mine 36 years later. I created my garter, clutch purse, flower girl's dress, and ring bearer's pillow all from my mother's dress! Details to follow with tips for DIYers.

Photos by Dustin Francis