Wedding Business: The Bridesmaid Dresses

So I suppose with all my excuses about not updating as much due to wedding business I should probably start putting my money where my mouth is and actually show you what I've been doing all these months.

First up, the Bridesmaid Dresses. I would show you my wedding dress, but as it's staying a secret from Mr. Fiance I'll just have to post about it the day after the wedding... which is 8 WEEKS AWAY. Holy what? Did I just write that? I did. There's so much still to do! Darn handmade weddings...

Anyways, we'll worry about that later. Back to business here. First the girlies. When I first started discussing the wedding with Mr. Fiance he let me know that he really wanted to wear tails. He is one of the few men I know who owns his own tuxedo and wears it on a fairly regular basis for networking and so on. He wanted to wear something special for his wedding and so this whole idea of the tails was born.

This of course meant that the girls (including me) would need to be in full length gowns. Let me tell you how fun it is to find a flattering full length gown these days, particularly one that would go with my somewhat unique wedding gown. So the search began.

In January I flew up to New York where my mother and sister reside. We planned a day long shopping trip that took us all over Saratoga Springs and the surrounding area. We met up with one of my Bridesmaids, Bradlea, and another good (and honest) friend of mine, Jen, and off we went.

Bradlea and my sister tried on mmmm..... maybe 25 gowns or so for me. Honestly it probably could have been more considering we spent an entire 8 hours shopping. Eventually we stumbled across this little gem by accident. I only pulled it out of the rack because it happened to be the only sample in the color I was looking for (an iridescent non-blingy gold) and I wanted to check the color on the girls.

The Beautiful Mrs. Bradlea who was just married in November. She is modeling Bari Jay 233.

The dress was really cute, had sleeves (a key criterion for me), and was sampled in the exact color I wanted. Someone was telling me to buy this dress. We tried on a few more dresses for giggles, but I had pretty much made up my mind after seeing this one. A few days later I had my girls go ahead and order this style.

Here are the images used on Bari Jay's website. This poor girl has been photo-shopped to within an inch of her life, poor thing. I don't think these images do the dress justice at all, but it is enough to give you a general idea of what the gown looks like.

Mr. Fiance if you are reading this stop now. I'm about to give away a spoiler here. For everyone else, another key reason why I enjoyed these dresses is they have the same short quasi train in the back as my gown. They match perfectly with my dress down to the weight of the fabric. These dresses are chiffon, my gown is organza so they both have a very light airy quality to them. I am very excited to see these on my girls come October!

New information on an inspiration post and LOTS of updates!

Hello, Dearest Readers! I've got quite a few updates for you today! First, and most exciting of all is that I was contacted by Ms. Mady Genco Nichas about a post I had made back in August. I had posted this photo of Ms. Mady's Grandmother and Grandfather's wedding.

Apparently someone in Ms. Mady's family found this blog and showed it to Mrs. Vita Genco (the Bride). Mrs. Vita wasn't able to contact me directly, but Ms. Mady gave me all sorts of info on this photo and I really wanted to share it with all of you. When I posted the photo and my questions from Mrs. Vita's wedding I never expected to hear about the wedding especially from the Bride herself! I just thought the info was too cool not to share with all of you.

Ms. Mady tells me that the wedding was in 1952. Mrs. Vita's mother made the wedding dress and all the Bridesmaid's dresses. That's seven full gowns, quite the accomplishment in my eyes! Everyone looks so beautiful. Mrs. Vita's mother was obviously an amazing seamstress because those gowns look fantastic. I especially love Mrs. Vita's gown because of that fantastic train. Ms. Mady tells me the train was so long because it represented her purity. How cool is that! I had no idea that there was still a connection between train length and purity in the 1950s. I had known about a similar tradition in the late 1800s, but I did not know that tradition extended as late as the 1950s. I guess the explains the trend towards long trains in the 1920s and 1930s as well.

The best part of Ms. Mady's information? The color of the bridesmaid dresses of course! I'm told that they were lilac so my guess of pastel pink or blue was pretty close. Thank you so much for sharing all that information with us Ms. Mady and Mrs. Vita!

After geeking out on that bit of information I guess I should move on to the rest of the updates. Second on the list is that Ms. Lisette at What Would Nancy Drew Wear? is doing another sew-along. This time she's tackling a Sense & Sensibility ensemble.

I wouldn't exactly call this sew-along a vintage sew along, but I'm a total Jane Austin geek so I enrolled myself. If you're worried about the complexity of this project don't be. Ms. Lisette has giving her sew-along a nice slow pace. The patterns are a little pricey, but they're actually quite reasonable for reproduction patterns. So if you're interested in one of these cute ensembles for yourself head on over there and let Ms. Lisette know.

And don't forget that Ms. Tasia is running her Sewaholic Pendrell blouse sew-along right now and Ms. Gertie is mid-way through her Crepe sew-along.

Third on my update list is that I spent the morning with some awesome folks from the Peachtree City Powercore team. Powercore is a really fantastic business networking group that Mr. Fiancé is a member of. They're a group of great professionals who provide fantastic services. They gave me some great ideas for future blog posts and put me in contact with some really interesting people. I can't tell you too much about what's going on because nothing is set in stone yet, but there are some really great sources of vintage and historical awesomeness around here in the near future.

Fourth: Don't forget that I'm giving away this free knitting pattern to anyone that mentions or links to $25 Vintage.

It could be in your facebook, on your twitter, in an email to a friend, or even on your own blog if you like. I've gone through and updated all the instructions, yardage requirements, gauge, added a terminology key, included a high resolution photo, and added my own little comments. It comes in a pretty pdf and is the first of $25 Vintage free pattern releases! Hurray! All you've got to do is leave a comment for me or copy me on the email and I'll get that pdf sent right to your inbox. 


But wait there's more! Fifth Point! We've reserved our church for the wedding! So reception venue, dress, and ceremony are all taken care of. My wedding is started to feel so real. I even spoke with someone this morning about ordering save-the-dates! 8.5 months to go!


And finally you have got to check out the hilarity over at Molly's Garage Sale Adventures. She's making this:

with that fabric. It's so fantastic it hurts!

Have a great day everyone!

A 1930s Trousseau

This is a cross post from my Wedding Blog over at Wedspace.com, but I thought you all might get a kick out of it. I guess I've got 30s on the brain again. I hope you enjoy!

Delineator Cover ca. 1932 (I think)

Trousseau. Not a term we tend to use very often anymore. I'm sure there are plenty of Brides who have never even heard of the term "trousseau." So what is it and why was it important?

Lets think back to the days before feminism. Back to the days when women were not expected to work more than part time outside the home. The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word trousseau as:

trous·seau, n. [French, from Old French, diminutive of trousse, bundle. See truss.] The possessions, such as clothing and linens, that a bride assembles for her marriage.

In short it was those items such as bed linens, napkins, clothing, crocheted doilies, candlesticks and anything else that a woman was going to take with her into her husband's home. The concept is similar to that of a Hope Chest. You fill a box with all those things you'll need to for married life.

This isn't a very popular practice anymore. Most women today work full time and we simply purchase what we need when we need it. Our culture is also not one that focuses on preserving items long term. How many of us buy a dress at Express or Kohls with the expectation of carefully storing it, always wearing a smock or apron over it when working in it, carefully altering it by hand when size adjustments must be made, and with the intent to wear said dress for the next 15 years? Certainly not me.

In the 1930s the Trousseau was a very common practice and many magazines for young women had lists suggesting what one should include. Here is a list from the April 1930 Good Housekeeping magazine.

Trousseau Budget 1930
White Satin Wedding Gown - $39.50 (about $496 today)
Tulle Veil (3 yards at $3.25per yard) - $9.75 (about $122)
Going away 3-piece suit - $16.95 (about $214)
Afternoon Dress for Formal Parties - $29.50 (about $375)
Street Dress of Silk or Wool - $25.00 (about $314)
Coat in Tweed or cloth - $39.50 (about $496)
Sweater, Cardigan, and Skirt Costume - $16.75 (about $210)
Washable Silk Sports Frock - $6.95 (about $87)
Sleeveless picque Dress with Jacket - $10.75 (about $135)
Lacy Diner Dress with Jacket - $25.00 (about $314)
Evening Wrap (to be made at home) - $15.00 (about $188)
Two Hats, One of Felt, One of Straw - $18.00 (about $226)
Shoes: Street, Afternoon, Evening Slippers, and One Pair of Bedroom Slippers or One Pair of Mules - $33.50 (about $420)
Negligee in Satin or Silk - $15.00 (about $188)
Lingerie, Girdles, and Stockings - $65.00 (about 816.00)
Accessories: Bag, 4 Pairs of Gloves, and 1 Dozen Handkerchiefs - $20.00 (about $251)
____________
Grand Total: $386.15 or about $4,848 in today's money.

Note that this was published in April 1930, about 7 months after the great stock market crash that started the Great Depression in the United States.

The September 1933 issue of the Delineator Magazine suggests a similar Trousseau, but one that's slightly more affordable. The magazine focused on needle work, dressmaking, and millinery. They were know for providing images of the latest fashions with just enough information to recreate a similar look at home. Making your own Trousseau was often much more reasonable pricewise. The September 1933 Delineator gives us this illustration and description.

A 1933 Trousseau
"The going-away outfit. She chooses a suit for a dramatic get-away. Or, if she is marrying simply, at the City Hall, she wears this for the ceremony, too. It is eel brown ribbed wool and the fur is flattering blue fox." "Her wool gadabout frock. For this backbone-f-the-trousseau frock she hits on olive green, with the touch of satin that is inevitable on smart wool frocks. The beret and the gloves are sating too." "Her dress-up frock. It's satin-and she uses the dull side for the dress itself, the shiny side for the small touches. It would be marvelous in rosy red, but every bit as smart in black or eel brown.

"A go-with-everything wrap. It's a wager one-the smartest wrap of the year. It belongs to her white frock but it's worn with the dinner dress, too. If she prefers a contrasting fabric, we suggest velvet or bengaline." "Her 'grand' evening frock. To look grandest, this season, white satin is the thing at night. That's why we urge it for this frock with the Vionnetish neckline. The wrap belonging to this dress is the black one." "And this for small evenings. A dress that can take dinners, dancing, the theatre, or any other kind of 'don't dress' evening in its stride. It's black satin and the coat of the white satin frock will go perfectly with it."

So if one were so inclined what would one include in their modern day trousseau? Susan Breslow Sardone recommends new clothes, sports wear, vacation wear, and luggage. She suggests that you keep your trousseau true to your personal style. Don't think of it like an image make-over, you're just collecting things that you will need.

I can tell you that my "trousseau" consists of several mismatched dish sets from college, banged up clothing from high school and art school (mostly covered in paint), and two pairs of twin sheets. Oh, and about 3 bath towels.

-Nancy