Hitched, part 4 - Dresses

I decided to make dresses for five bridesmaids.  It sounds pretty Insane-O Bride with all the other stuff I was doing, but they were actually really easy.  A front piece, a back piece, and some straps.

The pattern is drafted loosely based on a dress from my closet.  It's the same idea as the "infinity dress" that is all over the blog world, but the base dress pattern is shift instead of a circle dress.  I used knit fabrics and sewed dresses that did not need to last forever, so I skipped treating the seam allowances, strap edges, and hem.  Actually, I think the Infinity dress is the same.  I treated the upper back edge by folding & sewing it over a length of elastic, which also prevented the back from stretching out and sagging.  The front bodice was lined to just under the bust, which takes care of the raw edge at the neckline

My little sisters live nearby, so we had a styling session to generate ideas.  My other bridesmaids needed help figuring out the weird fabric contraptions that had come in the mail.  I guess it worked because two of them had infants-in-arms at the wedding, and they even managed to find dress configurations that were accessible for feeding the little ones. 

Sorry for the poor pictures, we were using an iPhone for quick shots to capture each concept

In the end, this is how each of my bridesmaids turned out:

Chief Bridal Dressing Assistant (lil sis) pulled her wide straps up over her shoulders and spread them out to create mock-sleeves, while taking her skinny straps and wrapping them around her neck several times to make a drapey necklace detail.  CBDA's dress fabric was shining shimmering splendid and did not photograph particularly well because of the fabric's reflectivity.

Head of DIY (lil sis) covered her skinny straps with her wide straps, bunched together over her shoulders.  She wore the dress lower and covered the bodice with the ends of her straps, wrapped around to create a square neckline.

Champion of Raspberry Sauce and Other Late-Night Projects (bff) also bunched her wide straps over the shoulders and covered her skinny straps.  She wrapped the strap ends around her waist and tied them at the side.  Well, actually everyone did that...

Queen of Embarrassing Toasts (big sis) did mock-sleeves and artfully draped her straps in the back before bringing them around over the bodice and tying them just below it.  She pulled the small straps up and tied them behind her neck.

Prime Minister of Waterworks (big sis) also did mock-sleeves and then wrapped her straps at the waist.  Her small straps were crossed in front, an eye-catching detail that also altered the dress's neckline to be narrower with a sharper V shape.

PS that is me in my wedding dress!

If anyone is interested, I can post my "pattern" for these dresses, just let me know in the comments.