My DIY Re-designed Wedding Dress

Back when we bought my dress, I found it in a store the good ol' fashioned way and ordered one in the size they... ahem, suggested. It was all-white, all plain and uninspired... at least in the HiLLjO-flavored department. It is made by Forever Yours Bridal style 49209. It's bridal ivory and has allover allencon lace. People say you shouldn't judge a dress on the hanger, but I am telling you: as soon as I saw it on the hanger I knew it was mine.

First I decided to replace the white lace-up ribbon/sash for the corset back with a thick royal blue ribbon tied in a bow with long tails.

Then I decided I wanted a yellow crinoline after choosing a white dress over a colored one like I had originally planned. The crinoline was no easy task, taking multiple attempts to complete, only ending in a husband-made hour-long-heat-set dye process.
To help the crinoline be seen better, I had the front walkway of the hem cut up in my dress in hi-lo hem fashion. It helped you to see my bare feet better, too!

The next thing I wanted was to incorporate some crochet and some bunnies onto the dress. We had bunny cake top, sock bunnies, moss bunnies, yada-bunny-yada... but I made some seriously cute doily-style crochet bunnies. One was for HiLLjO and one was for Shawnie and I think they accented the lace in the dress AMAZINGLY.

One las shot of the bouquet/its wrap/ring/lucky elephant bracelet with my dress as a backdrop and my hair flying characteristically wild.

All our wedding photos here from D. Pohlen

Colored Wedding Dress Crinoline Part 2: Mere Mortals Dye Poly Tulle

So I tried to dye my ivory crinoline yellow about 2 weeks ago with regular Tulip Dye... FAIL. The deeper shade of ivory it turned rinsed right out!
Upon investigation into the material contents of the crinoline, (Read: I did online research, called the shop I bought my dress from, and then FINALLY called my dress designer's world headquarters) I found that it is Poly-tulle. It is made of Polyester.
Now folks, no mere mortal can dye polyester fabric. However, I do not take kindly to the idea of a white crinoline I could have just left attached to the damn dress!
So I did some more research into what WOULD dye polyester. Apparently there is a poylester dye that comes in its very own packet and everything. It is called iDye Poly and although it comes in limited colors, it comes in yellow and it works! Shawnie did most of the work and I stood by with my nervously bitten lip.

We put a stainless steel bucket on the stove with warm-to-hot water in it. We put it up to level 4 on the burner to get it simmering. We added the skirt and Shawn stirred it constantly to keep the color even and to keep the crinoline from cooking!

It got gradually darker over the course of 30 minutes.

Before

5 Minutes

10 Minutes! Soaked up a lot of color!!!

Woohoo! Results!!!

I'd like to thank Shawn (for dying and emotional support), Grandpa (for using his bathtub and carwashing bucket without fear of stains) and my mom (for listening to me bitch when it wouldn't work and I couldn't figure out how to make it work!). I will have a colored crinoline for under my dress.

There is a downside to this DIY: it took SO. FREAKING. LONG. that I handed it off to my alterations lady for Part 3 : the elastic waist. All I will have is after-after pics! Hang in there!

DIY Wedding Dress Details

So I missed the 75 Days point... 'scuse myself!

Depending on how often or how much you read, you may know I am customizing the bizingo out of my wedding dress. Besides the tailoring of the front hem, the dress is finished. So here is the consolidated list and latest progress on the Dress DIY Styling front.

1. The crinoline was removed and prepped to be dyed. If you missed that hilarity, you can still read here.
2. The lace-up ribbon has been purchased.
3. The bunny doilies that are to be attached to the train are made!

They are the newest addition to the pile of  DIY stuff that I'll wear. So far in that pile is the Headpiece, the garter, the Something Old Hanky, and now the bunnies! I have to keep it on the shelf because Ruined DIY due to kitties=Bridezilla Hilljo. It's as if Mama Kitty and her kitts have wedding project-seeking radar used to find sleeping locations. No matter; it's on the shelf!

Colored Wedding Dress Crinolines + Part 1: DIY Colored Crinoline

via

My favorite thing to see on wedding blogs (besides chuppahs!) is a bride with a colored crinoline. Some brides are women who wanted a colored dress but for whatever reason ended up with a white one. The colored crinoline is a way to wear a pop of the color in a fun way.
I originally wanted a yellow / green dress. Yellow is just my color!

via

We all know I ended up with a (most beautiful) ivory dress so I immediately wanted to adopt this detail into my own style for the Day. Problem is... finding these is no easy task!
When searching you are faced with 3 options: Have a short dress, pay the price or buy a white one to dye! Having a short dress is by far the easiest option. There's no shortage of pettiskirts and square dancing petticoats the perfect length! Here's one superb website I found. 

Swank Underpinnings

Good old etsy has a few shops that cater to the colored-crinoline bride. The prices aren't too* bad but $0 is my budget, sooo...! One excellent shop is Swank Underpinnings. They range between $35 to $225 (custom orders!). They make them in all lengths, which is really not easy to find. Some of her custom stuff--swoon!
Loca Loves Pirate has some cutie pastel babies, too. They're even full length!

So what's a budget-spent bride to do?! It involved massive preparation research, scissors, and blind faith. A couple weekends ago when I was making our invitations, I asked my mom to enlist in helping me cut my crinoline out of my dress. With scissors. She surprisingly did not look at me like I was too crazy, but we both felt aprehensive about the whole thing. If I had thought about it much more, I wouldn't have done it.

Steps

1. Put on your dress.
2. Have a helper pull up the top layer(s) so that you can only see the crinoline layer.
3. Make a guide snip at waist-height where you'll be cutting accross the crinoline.
4. Take off the dress.
5. Lay out the dress on the bed and pull all the layers up over the top of the dress, making sure the only layer exposed is the crinoline layer.
6. Just like with cutoff shorts, find your guide snip. Now read: DO NOT CUT THROUGH BOTH LAYERS. ONE LAYER AT A TIME ONLY.
7. Just like with cut off shorts, cut in a straight line across the front.
8. Flip the dress over. You'll see why you don't cut through both layers.
9. The back of a wedding dress is almost always where it zips, laces, yada yadas... and there will be a panel back there you don't want to cut that separates the dress closure from your bare skin. So taking care to cut AROUND that part, Cut straight across the back, around the panel and back straight across to finish.
10. Pull out your crinoline, hang your dress back up and committ yourself. Not to your fiance(e)... To an asylum. You're officially NUTS for doing this DIY.

The second part of the DIY is dying and the third is adding an elastic waistband so you can wear it under your dress. Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3!
In the meantime, there is a whole SECTION of Offbeat Bride that features just weddings with colored-crinoline brides. Enjoy!