At the end of September, Arlen and I got engaged. Like whoa!
Honestly, we both knew it was coming. We had been chatting about it for quite some time. We have also been together for over 4 years, have a house together and a Cat, and have lived together since our second month dating... it was kind of an inevitable thing!
At first we weren't going to mention anything on social media and were only going to tell our closest friends and family about the engagement. But then I realized that I personally had been falling behind on some major projects and I wasn't posting much online and it was bumming me out.
I thought about the fact that I had these grand plans to make my own wedding dress, but I wouldn't have many people to talk to about that entire process until AFTER the actual wedding. That sounded so lonely to me, especially as I have been seeing so many amazing makers discuss their own wedding dress plans online!
Honestly, I wanted to be able to join in on the fun, ask for advice, and offer a helping hand to others who might request it. Is there not already an IG chat with sewing-brides-to-be, cause there should be!
Whew, I feel as if a major weight has been lifted off of my shoulders and my mind and it. feels. good!
With all that being said, I can now explain a bit about my Atlanta Frocktails dress because this all ties in to our recent engagement.
When I posted on Instagram last week, I mentioned that my Frocktails dress came to fruition accidentally, which left a few people puzzled. I mean, how does one accidentally sew a dress? You literally sit down at a machine with the intention of sewing and then, well, you sew!
Well, originally in our talks leading up to getting engaged, Arlen and I were pretty set on eloping in the spring of 2020. We wanted to go someplace and have an intimate ceremony, literally just the two of us and whoever is legally required to marry two people. We figured we'd throw some sort of reception later in the year to celebrate, but as both of us are pretty reserved, the thought of standing up in front of people to say our vows was only slightly terrifying.
So, I went ahead and drafted and made an elopement dress. I had purchased this Lady McElroy fabric to be bridesmaids dresses, but as we looked to be going in a different direction, I thought it'd make a great elopement dress! It was primarily white, so it had that wedding vibe *I suppose*, but it also had flowers all over it which plays into my personality as well as Arlen's nickname for me (I am literally still listed as Flower Girl in his phone as when we first met I was sporting a flower crown.)
However, our elopement plans changed after chatting with our families about the idea prior to us officially getting engaged. It seemed pretty important to our families that they be present at the actual ceremony, so we essentially just pushed our ideas of getting married in the Spring of 2020 back to the Fall of 2020 instead. Not that big of a deal as we were planning to host a reception around that time anyway!
But what was I to do with this new floor length dress I had created? Enter Stage Right: Atlanta Frocktails!
I hadn't created anything for that event and it was fast approaching, so I simply reassigned my dress to becoming the dress I would wear for the #frocktails event and it was perfect!
Now the task ahead of me is to create another dress for our actual wedding next November, along with prepping our home for our wedding- Yep, we are planning to get married here, which explains why I have taken on such a large renovation for our backyard (that and I like how much land we have and I always intended to help make it beautiful so that we could enjoy it!)
For my next dress, I am turning to a dream I had about 2 years into our relationship. It's the one and only time I have ever dreamt of a dress design =, and it was so vivid I drew out the design immediately upon waking up! Now, I just have to figure out how to construct such a dress as I will be making it from a silk charmeuse, silk chiffon, and embroidered tulle, so I know there needs to be hella support under the dress if it is going to actually stay up on me all night.
I am so excited to get started but also terrified of messing up, especially with that embroidered tulle which I purchased from Promenade Fabrics at $135/ YD !! Not a bad price for a wedding dress, but I also only purchased a yard and can't afford to mess it up!
And all of this I suppose was a long winded way of explaining a bit why I have been under the radar over the past few weeks. Between my friends getting married, spending time with my family, working on Atlanta Frocktails, maintaining my job at Topstitch, renovating our yard, and entering the beginning stages of wedding planning + garment sewing, it's been a bit overwhelming and has me slacking in the blog/ pattern making/ Instagraming arena. Hopefully I can soon find a better balance between things as I do want to keep ya'll updated on these projects AND I have plans for 5 more patterns that I really want to send out into the world!