Congrats Ainsley and Andrew!
Here's a little collage from today's beautiful wedding at The Trivium, (Heidi, the owner is phenom, and their grounds are perfectly cared for while they maintain a relaxed environment). The weather could not have been better! Flowers (amazing as always!) by The Arrangement Company, Photogs were Kimberly Burke and her husband Connor, one of my fav teams. Gawjus gowns from Celebration Bridal, (love them!). Decor by Studio 11 in Lynchburg. Makeup by Ashley Ancheta- she did a great job and was very personable while she worked with each party member. And the favors (Monogrammed drinking jars) were hand painted by the M.O.B.! This family redefined keeping calm and cool. They were so kind to deal with and very chill about the few little hiccups that happened today. Every wedding has them, but these guys took every bump in stride. You could tell this family was here just to have a good time and make memories!
May I also add that we were just a stone's throw away from where my husband and I were married, 13 years ago? Here's a picture I snagged that is the view of the steeple of the church in which we were married. We didn't know that you could see it from The Trivium, so it surprised us. The Trivium has very picturesque views around their property.
Have to Share Another...
Here are some more beautiful moments that I captured with a couple of very kind parents from this weekend's wedding. This wedding was held at West Manor.
Abby's dress came from the fabulous Church Street Bridal. They have designer dresses at a 10th of original retail, and it all goes for a great cause.
Flowers by Amy Thornburg, The Arrangement Company, (beautiful as always!).
Abby's wedding came together perfectly. The people at West Manor are very professional and detail-oriented.
Her photographers were from C. Tyler Corvin Studio. They are a husband and wife team out of Charlottesville. I work a lot of weddings, and I see a lot of photographers work. So, naturally, I've learned to clearly see who is winging it and who really knows their stuff. These guys know their stuff!! They had great equipment. They worked with the family without causing chaos to break loose. They were humble and relaxed, but on their game. I look forward to sharing their photographs with you on my bride's page, here.
What else is there to say? It was a beautiful ending to what most have dubbed the busiest wedding day of the year for this year. (We served 10 Gilded Brides who married on this day!) The next huge day for us will be Oct 12th. I'll have to tally up our numbers for the year and find out exactly which was the biggest day for us.
For now, I'm relaxing, for last week was unbelievably busy and I'm having to re-bound quickly to get all of my many October brides picture perfect for their big day. (Click on picture below to enlarge.)
Abby and her Mother after the wedding ceremony. Abby and her Father, in their final moments together alone before she became a "Mrs.".
Abby's West Manor Wedding
We served a beautiful bride today at West Manor. Check out her Gilded fit! She looked so fabulous, and what a sweet family! Love Them!! Many blessings, Abby!
laughing
It's after 11PM. I'm still at work. The bride, her sister, and her mom are heaving laughing in the fitting room. I hear snorting, giggling, and gasping for breath. Yup. Just another day at The Gilded Thimble! lol
Pics in From a Gilded Beach Wedding
http://cgsphotojournal.com/2013/07/beginnings-angela-tyler/
Go check out Crystal George's website. LOVE that Photog! She covered the amazingly beautiful wedding of one of my brides, Angela. So excited!!! Many blessings, Angela and Tyler!
Our NEW Promo Video is LIVE!!!
Yay!! New promo video by Elvisdog Productions is Live! Check it!
Vintage Redesign
Yesterday we did another vintage redesign. We've completed 3 in the past two weeks! They are very exciting. Below is a picture of the dress that we worked on yesterday. It's a Priscilla of Boston, worn by the Mother of the Bride, a number of years ago. We removed the sleeves and gave the dress a sweetheart neckline. I wanted to include some pictures of the inside of the gown just to record how different these dresses were constructed back in the day. The dress was high-end, yet unlined! Check out the retro bust cups, too! ;)
Happy Independence Day!
We are closed today, and we are enjoying the holiday! I'm not sure why we Virginians have June bug season in July, but we do! We woke up this morning to a swarming yard of harmless, buzzing bugs. Here's what a day off looks like for The Thimble!
Today is a great day to be thankful for our freedoms and to enjoy time with our families. So, however you do it, get out and do it! We'll see ya tomorrow! :) God Bless America!
Some Other Things That I Love...
Ok, ok. YES! I LOVE sewing. But there are also some other things that I love! I also love photography. I've been investing and learning tons since we've started working on this website. I needed high quality images and can't afford to have a professional photog follow me around. (shucks) My dad was an artist and photographer, and I'm very artistic and visually sensitive, so it just made sense for me to begin pursuing photography. I'm so glad that I did!
Another thing that I love is a good promotional shoot. (This is when a business owner arranges a shoot exclusively for photo stock to use for advertising.)
Another thing I love is Church Street Bridal. They have amazing designer dresses, all sold for around 10% of original retail. (no, that's not a typo) The proceeds all benefit domestic violence prevention and services.
The other night was a blissful mash-up of all three of these things!! I've been wanting to learn about using off-camera flash, so I scheduled a lesson with A.J.Chan, a photog whom I esteem highly in that area. We tried out The Thimble's newest model, Devon in a Church Street Bridal gown. We even played with smoke bombs!
We had a blast and got some great images to use! Enjoy!!
Hand-mixer/ bobbin-winder hack
Butchered a $5 hand mixer & now have an ultra-fast bobbin winder ;)
I figured I should give more detail on this, because it seems my website is getting hits for people searching, "how to make a bobbin winder". Lol, who knew? I bought a cheap hand mixer and had a friend cut the end of the beater off and sand it smooth. The shaft of the mixer is just a hair too small to get a good grip on the bobbin, so I built up the thickness of the shaft with clear tape. I just rolled it on until the thickness was right.
Obviously, there's no tensioner in this set up. So I either wind with the thread going through the threading and needle of the machine, (with slightly raising presser foot with the knee lift to lighten the tension slightly.) or, I create tension by pulling thread through my fingers before it goes around the bobbin. That has to be done on the slowest setting, so as not to burn my fingers. ;) The slowest setting is still very very fast but my fingers are calloused from working more than full time every week at sewing, so it's not a problem for me as long as I pay attention to what I'm doing! Ha!
Perfect Arrangement
Thank you, Perfect Arrangement!
Lookie what someone dropped by yesterday! It's a beautiful bouquet - & it has mint leaves in it! My shop smells divine today :). Need some amazing arrangements for an event? Call Perfect Arrangement to set up a consultation.
Congrats Hillary!!
We attended another beautiful wedding yesterday at Diamond V Farm in Blue Ridge. Hillary looked amazing in her Maggie Sottero gown. I can't wait to post more pics of her and her special day!
We Got Tha Powah...
Power is back on! We had a power failure from the storm today. Tomorrow's Sew While Wait bride is driving in from Charlottesville. We were scheming up ways to avoid canceling the day. (108, 000 residents without power!) We thought it might take a while. But, wooo hooo!!! Power is back on!!!
Wedding Season...
Ahh... My efforts are coming to fruition. Here are some shots of some Gilded Brides whose weddings I recently attended. I love it when my work comes full circle.
3 Things
Just some things I need to say here, people. Not for the faint of heart. Brave brides, read on...
1) F.D.S. is a spray that you buy to keep your thighs from sweating on your big day. You spray it on your *thighs* (Brides keep asking me.)
2) Not everything on Pinterest works. (Sorry.)
3) Don't bring an entourage to your fitting- it's overwhelming to EVERYONE and you will end up crying and having at least three weird decisions that you will look back on with regret.
Leave those cutie-patooties at home :'(
Just a gentle, friendly reminder that men, and children under the age of 13 aren't permitted at The Gilded Thimble. So sorry! But brides deserve privacy, (from men). And children are so sweet, and cute, and require a lot of attention- attention that the bride needs to give to her dress. Celebrate the day of making your gown just right for you! Treat yourself to a sitter, and let your man nap on the couch today! ;)
The trouble with hems...
I want you to watch this video. It's Pnina Tornai's 2013 collection. It is assumed that the hem lengths are what the designer intended. Watch the hem lengths. Watch the shoes.
I've been meaning to post about this for a few weeks, and this video is the perfect illustration for what I want to get across to you. We often have brides who struggle with deciding on their hem lengths. They want their dress floor-length, but they don't want to trip. They don't want their hem to buckle, and they don't want it to get dirty. But most of all... they don't want their shoes to show! This is a common dilemma.
The fact is, in some styles, you CANNOT have a safe floor length dress that keeps your shoes covered while walking. The problem is particularly acute when the bride has chosen a sheath dress or a dress that doesn't have a very full skirt, crinoline, etc. Unfortunately, you may have to choose between tripping or shoes showing. There's also many dress styles, that no matter how long you keep the hem, with the train pulling the dress back, and there being no substantial fullness to the skirt, you will have shoes showing.
My advice is always: decide which you want. If I tell you you can't have a safe hem without your shoes peeking out when you walk, believe me. If you want it extra long, we'll do that for you. If you want a safe floor-length hem, we'll accommodate. But please believe me when I tell you whether or not your shoes will show, and decide from there. Sometimes it's unavoidable.
The best route? Go shoe shopping, and pick out shoes that you love, because they will show at some point, no matter how long your dress is!
IT'S here.
...Bridal season. It's here. 52 calls yesterday. Wowzaas. I'm doing my best to return calls. If it takes a few days, please forgive me. I don't mean anything personal by it. Feel free to shoot me a reminder text or call again. Same goes for emails. If I failed to get back with you, it's totally my fault. I'm sorry. Please try again?
Things have been ramping up here the past few weeks and I've been trying so feverishly to find my seasonal receptionist. I even hit up the hostess at the Lynchburg Olive Garden last weekend!! lol I finally found my girl this morning, though and hired her. Olivia will be answering the phones for me part time and also returning some calls and emails. She's getting married this spring and she's a "Gilded" bride. I'm working her wedding. How cool is that? We're each other's bosses at the same time ;) She's delightfully left brained, (I'm obviously deficient in left-brains). Everybody welcome her warmly, for she'll make your experience with us run more smoothly.
The type of corset that we don't install
Here's a picture of the type of corset that we don't install. I have lots of pictures online of the type of corset that we *do* install, but I thought it would serve to illustrate why we avoid putting in the loop corsets. I can't tell you how often we see dresses in this condition. Corset backs are under a tremendous amount of pressure. Loop backs are sewn in with only a row or two of stitches to hold the loops in. It's just not physically possible for the loops to hold up to that kind of stress.
I always say, because of the pressure that's placed on a well laced corset, there is a higher failure rate than with traditional zipper backs. With loop backs, that means a loop breaks, then more pressure is put on the other loops, and then they begin to break as well.
We install grommet style corset backs because we believe in them. Due to the stress imposed upon them, they sometimes fail as well. -Yes. I just admitted that. (We don't call this the "truth zone for nuthin'.) But they rarely fail, and the grommet's version of failing is different from the loops version of failing. If a grommet pops out, you still have a functional hole to use. Just slip the grommet through the ribbon and up against the hole, and it's almost impossible to tell by looking at it that the grommet has failed. The lacing remains the same. The corset back continues to function.
To see some examples of corset backs that we have installed, check out our gallery.
