Isadora Modest Conversion

 I have been so excited to show off our latest modest Maggie Sottero conversion. I've been sitting on these pictures for a couple of weeks but since she got married today, here we go.

When I saw Mikaelyn in her completed gown for the first time I got choked up.  Every bride I serve makes me happy but this was an especially satisfying outcome.

Mikaelyn Miles Kooyman

Isadora by Maggie Sottero

When Mikaelyn came to my store shopping in September I knew that her wedding was quick.  She was marrying a close family friend, Andrew Kooyman who's brothers played baseball with my boys and I've known Andrew since he was really small.  I told him I would do it but only because it was for the Kooymans who we just love.  Actually, I have come to love Mikaelyn and her family because they are really special people.  Her younger sister Kylie and her dad, Adam are on their way to Africa tomorrow to spend Christmas there on a humanitarian trip.

We continued the lace up back seamlessly

OK, back to the dress.  Mikaelyn fell in love with the Maggie Sottero Isadora which is also one of my favorites.  Vintage lace, soft net, mikado 3 dimensional flowers and swarovski crystals are the perfect combination.  As we did our first fitting Mikaelyn asked about elbow length sleeves.  I created the muslin mock up for the top.  In my mind I saw her top so I draped the neckline with matching hem lace.  She loved it!   Most of the insane amount of time I spent on this dress was over the Thanksgiving holiday. I really like to make the upper sleeve look more free form instead of a hard lining for the cap.  When I cut the sleeve drape and started laying on the lace it went into the most amazing shape.  My 6 year old grand daughter, Tawnee came to my house on the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving as I was hand beading  and she added 9 crystal beads to Mikaelyn's dress sleeve.  This is her first experience with doing beads.  I keep careful track of my time and logged in more than 33 hours but I think it was worth it. It is impossible to tell that this dress was originally strapless.  What do you think?