Introduction to the House of Zaunbrecher design team and atelier du flou

Welcome to my blog documenting the design and construction on Ginny's wedding dress.  I am looking forward to sharing with you the progress on this design and construction effort.  You will get to see the final product at the Grateful Wed Tour of parties later this year.

You may ask, why would anyone want to make a wedding dress when so many beautiful dresses are are readily available?  Basically, I love to sew.  In particular, I have developed an interest and some skill in the techniques of couture dress making.  Clearly, I cannot hold a candle to the master craft women (premieres mains) of the Paris atelier du flous.  However, the skill of these craftswomen inspires me and I will be researching and applying couture methods to this project.

Let's start the story of the House of Zaunbrecher and its atelier du flou in Concord, Massachusetts.

The design team for the wedding dress was headed by Susan Zaunbrecher (Ginny's aunt) of Cincinnati, Ohio.  After extensive consultations with the client (and several glasses of wine), a design was established on December 23, 2011.

We purchased the fabric on December 24 at The Silk Road Fine Fabrics in Auburndale, Massachusetts.  Gay Rodgers, the proprietor, was very gracious and extremely helpful in guiding us to choose the best fabrics for the dress.  Gay's store is wonderful.  If you live anywhere close to Boston, I highly recommend you visit her store.

The dress is a cream colored silk cocktail length dress with a shirred, surplice bodice and full skirt.  The bodice's top layer is shirred silk chiffon over a crepe de chine fitted bodice.  The skirt is a crepe de chine underline with a silk/cotton blend.  Cream chantilly lace will be appliqued to the crepe de chine skirt.  The underskirt is white tulle pettycoats.  The entire dress will be lined with silk twill.  A fitted and boned corset will provide the under structure for the dress.  The corset will be made from very soft white cotton.  31 yards of fabric were purchased to the make the dress.

With the design completed and the fabric selected, action now moves to the atelier du flou located in the basement of 402 Border Road.

The dress construction has been divided into four distinct parts:

• the bodice
• the over skirt
• the underskirts
• the corset

My next post will show picture of the fabric and provide a dress construction progress report.  Spoiler alert--some of the fabric has already been cut.

Judy