I am sure by now you have seen our short video on Hayley's dress but we just can’t stop talking about it! It’s not very often that one of our brides asks us to paint their Wedding Dress…
Hayley visited our boutique in January 2019, a little over a year before her wedding date, with a rough idea on the silhouette she was after for her day and a few intriguing ideas on how to add a splash of colour.
After trying on a few of our My little Wedding Shop Collection dresses in the boutique, Hayley fell in love with the shape of our Wondering Ivy dress. The Wandering Ivy design features unique hand cut lace that is hand sewn to embellish the waist and trail down into the skirt. Hayley wasn’t sure about having lace on her Wedding Dress and so we suggested using the Wandering Ivy silhouette as a blank canvas (pardon the pun) and work from there.
Hayley is a talented artist herself and had produced a canvas to bring to the boutique, showing her idea for a painted skirt and an insight into her choice of colours and texture. This was really helpful for us and meant we could get started on testing out the paint effect on the fabric.
Jenny made some miniature versions of Hayley’s skirt to use as test pieces. There are many different types of fabric paint and dye available so it took some research and testing to identify a suitable paint that would have the bold colour effect that Hayley wanted without changing the drape and movement of the fabric.
It was also important to mix up the right shades of green from the basic colours that were available. Multiple colours were created and Hayley then selected her favourite shades to use.
To paint the dress we had to do some preparation work in our workshop to ensure everything was very well protected. We also decided to paint the individual panels of the dress before they were sewn together so that we could work with the panels completely flat.
Jenny felt it was very important that Hayley was part of the painting process, not only to ensure that she loved the result, but also because this is a wonderful experience that was part of her wedding dress journey. So when the day came to start painting, Jenny and Hayley worked together at our workshop to create this wearable work of art!
In addition to the green, Hayley wanted to introduce smaller elements of bright pink and yellow which worked a treat to break up the green. During our testing process, the most effective method of applying the colour to get the ‘solid blocks’ feel that Hayley wanted, was using solid wedges of different sizes. These gave the clean edges to each strip of colour whilst also having some great shaping effects at the top of each block.
Hayley had a copper theme running through her wedding design, with the floral bouquets being on copper hoops and copper being picked up in the venue decoration. On the original dress design, copper foil was going to be used in random places across the design to lift the colours and tie in this theme. However, during the fitting process Hayley decided that she would rather have the copper feature more prominently on her gown and opted to have copper circles added to the dress in different sizes to match the floral hoops.
On the painting day, Jenny made up different circle templates so that Hayley could decide where she wanted these hoops to feature. As the paint had to dry first, Jenny took lots of photos and notes and waited until the next day to start adding on the copper.
This also meant that Hayley had to wait and see the effect during her next dress fitting which added an element of excitement and surprise!
We do love a challenge and this creation was no exception but I think you will agree that the end result was worth it!
Thank you Hayley for putting your faith in us to create this amazing dress and for working with us so openly. We know that the memories of creating your perfect wedding dress will always be with you and we are thrilled that we could be a part of your wedding planning journey!
You look incredible and your wedding pictures show the vibrant colours of your gown perfectly.
Hayley can be found online:
Instagram - Designed by HMA
If you want to see more of the creation of Hayley’s dress then watch the behind the scenes film we have put together.
If you have a unique idea for you perfect wedding gown or would like to have an initial chat to see what is possible , then please do get in touch!
Wedding Photography by Victoria Amrose Photography.