During the summer of 2014 my friends Sarah and Jonah married each other in a beautiful ceremony overlooking Lake Merritt in Oakland. I never ended up posting about the dress I made for myself on here, and only have a few low quality pictures from the event so I had the amazing Drew Beck take some new photos to show you. 

If the look seems familiar, that’s because it kind of is. I made a very similar dress a year before for my friend Martha’s wedding, just in a bright yellow color (which you can see here). The neckline of the dress is different, but the shoes, the petticoat and the necklace are all the same. 

I intentionally left the skirt of the dress a bit on the short side so that the petticoat would show.

Pockets of course. A girl needs somewhere to put her hands!

 
The back. I actually have a bra I didn’t wear very much that’s just about this color purple, so I ended up adjusting the straps to fit just this dress. 

…and a silly one of course!

This may not be the least time you see this look as its pretty much the most fun thing I have ever worn! Maybe I’ll go green next time…

Three weeks ago I posted about a flower girl dress I made for my friend Caroline’s wedding. This week you get to see what I made for myself!

I live in a one-bedroom cottage, where the bedroom has been transformed into my sewing studio. The room is packed with fabric, so as a general rule I try to not buy anything new until I’ve used up some of what I already have. This makes going to fabric stores very difficult for me, and this time I failed. I don’t even remember what I was there to buy anymore, but I walked past a bolt of this fabric and knew I was in trouble! It is a beautiful lilac colored linen with an amazing scalloped eyelet hem.

When designing for myself, I tend to gravitate towards full skirts as they are fun, flattering and easy to put pockets in (not to mention make wearing my petticoats possible). The fabric wasn’t cheap though, and only had the eyelet on one edge so, this dress was going to be a little different. I chose to go with a simple high slightly scooped neck in the front and a deep U in the back to let my tattoo peek out. I cut some of the fullness out of the top of the skirt and that allowed for seams to put the pockets in.

I love the dress and look forward to wearing it again. The one thing I leaned however is that dancing in heels and an eyelet hemmed dress is a bad combination! I ended up on the floor twice with my heel caught in my skirt! Oops!
   
  

Looking for a cap to keep the sun out of your little ones eyes? Look no further! These caps are custom made to fit each individual head. They can be made out of just about any kind of fabric, in any color you want with whatever patch you may want (that I can find!) or not.

I make them with a bit of elastic in the back to secure the cap to the head and reinforce the brim to make sure it stays sturdy. They are machine washable and return customers get a nice discount (as I know how fast those little heads grow!).

All I need is the circumference of the head needing protection. $30

If interested, please e-mail me at katyturner@gmail.com

I’m working on getting my Etsy shop up an running so for now just e-mail me at katyturner@gmail.com!

-Katy

Grady the Great is my friend Suzanne’s adorable son. He was born on Thanksgiving day two years ago while I was at home with his two doggie brothers. I ended up being his nanny for a good chunk of time starting when he was around 6 months and I absolutely adore this silly crazy little guy. I don’t get to see him, or his mom nearly as much since he started daycare, but that is the nature of life, we all just keep growing.

I do however sometimes get to see them for a hike in Redwood park. The last time was a little while ago and I realized it was the first time I would be seeing this little dude since his first birthday! I was a little nervous he wouldn’t remember me so I thought of what he might like. Grady LOVES hats. Not always mind you, only when he says so of course. He was also going through a phase (I think it has since passed?) where everything had to have dogs on it. Some questions for Mommy and I was set.

Grady wasn’t all that impressed when I gave him the hat as it apparently wasn’t exactly hat time. But no worries. We had a blast on our hike and once it was over I got all the hugs I had been missing. Later, once Grady had time to inspect the hat he loved it and wore it to a friends wedding recently.

 

This was really a prototype as it fit a little strangely because I didn’t have a pattern and wasn’t sure of the shape. Once he outgrows this one I have tons of doggies to decorate more.

Shana got married a few weeks ago and I had the honor of making her wedding dress.

How I know Shana is a perfect example of how Facebook can bring people together. Shana is a childhood classmate of my sister-in-law who found me on Facebook! The rest is history.

Shana came to me with a pretty specific idea in mind for her dress and it was just perfect. She wanted something short, with pockets, lace or eyelet and something she could wear a petticoat under. Sounded like a dream dress to me! We talked a lot about what she did and didn’t want and then we went to buy the fabric. We started at Britex in San Francisco, as I had bought some amazing fabric there a few years ago for a dress of mine that Shana loved. This however was not to be the case for us. I should have just stuck with my regular place as Britex was a waste of a trip as usual. If you live in the Bay Area, go to Stonemountain & Daughter, you won’t be disappointed! We immediately found the fabric of Shana’s dreams and things were starting to fall into place. The main fabric is an off white polka-dot eyelet and a really amazing hem I was able to cut out. Then there is a really nice light orange cotton as an under layer. After a few draping sessions and fittings Shana’s dress was ready for her on her big day.

 

 

I am thrilled with the end result. The best part of the dress (aside from the pockets) is that we designed it so that it can be worn again in a more casual setting. Once the petticoat is removed the dress is less fancy and as it is all made from cotton it can easily be dyed any color she wants.

All the photos are from The Goodness where a beautiful recounting of the day can be found along with many more photos.

My amazing friend Martha got married yesterday to her love Patrick. It was a beautiful day in the Berkeley hills and you could feel the love in the air. The bride was stunning and the groom was beaming with joy. The event was amazing and I am just so happy for these two!

I have had the image of what I would wear in my head for so long that I can’t really remember what inspired it! I just knew I wanted to celebrate my weight-loss and wear something fun and comfortable and I am happy to say I succeeded.

Sadly I was running around taking care of random things for most of the day and forgot to have someone take good photos of myself in my dress, but I’m hoping some will pop up later! My friend Erica did do me a favor and snapped a few shots at the end of the night, thanks girl!

The dress is made from a simple cotton and I added the shoulder detail to match the shape of the necklace. The petticoat makes the look of course, I highly recommend getting one and wearing it as often as possible!  http://www.dancecenter.com/ Pockets are a must for me when making a dress. The necklace is actually from Forever21, a happy surprise I found there last year. The shoes are amazing and SO comfortable! http://www.chelseacrew.com/

If you are local to the Bay Area and are interested in my making you something, Please Let Me Know! katyturner@gmail.com