A Custom Wedding Gown for Amber

Check out this absolutely gorgeous wedding gown made by one of our readers, Rebecca Cook of Plant City, Florida (click on the pictures for a larger view). Rebeca stitched up this masterpiece for the bride, Amber, a family friend who has grown up with Rebecca's own daughters. The wedding was July 17th in Tampa, Florida.

Rebecca shared some details of the gown and wedding with us:

I began with Simplicity Jessica McClintock pattern 5237. The dress had side gathers and we wanted one up the back instead so I redrafted the pattern using theirs for a guide. I also added a gathered overlay to the bodice and a sash. I moved the zipper to the left side seam and used an invisible zipper. I then added a train to the underskirt. This bustled beautifully up under the gathers at he back of the dress. The gown is made of silk Duchesse Satin. The underskirt and sash are doupioni silk in ice blue, and the bodice overlay is white silk organza. The lace is Alencon re-embroidered with a silver thread and silver sequins. I trimmed the netting edge off to make it galoon edged and applied that to the underskirt hem using lingerie thread and a narrow zigzag . I also applied it to the upper edge of the bodice by hand sewing it on top of the overlay. I then cut some motifs from the lace to apply to the center front of the sash and over the gathers at the back of the dress hem. The hem of the over dress is embellished with rhinestone trim. With the white satin over the ice blue underskirt and the shimmery trims it gives the affect of a cloud with silver lining.

We have lived one house down from Amber's family for the past 8 years. They were all home schooled and spent most of their time together. When her mother passed away from breast cancer, Amber was just 17. She met her husband at Belmont Baptist church, as he was the worship leader and she was the pianist. After dating for 2 1/2 years they were married July 17, 2010 in Tampa, Florida. Her husband Heath, has just graduated from USF with a bachelor in engineering and she is finishing her degree in accounting this fall.

Thank you so much for sharing this gorgeous gown and story with us, Rebecca -- and congratulations to the bride and groom! Don't forget you are always welcome to submit your creations to us at blog@sewbeautifulmag.com.