Archives for October 2021

Humble Beginnings

October 27, 2021 By Leave a Comment

This week we have a fun throwback to when Jennifer first came to Maui 20 years ago and she started working from her home for friends and by word of mouth. She was fortunate to meet many lovely people on Maui who came to her home studio. Some of them include Bride Lia from Kauai and Bride Wailani from Maui, who she created custom wedding gowns for. It has been a beautiful evolution to arrive to where we are today.

A custom gown with lace for Bride Lia. The lace had a scalloped edge that we cut off and applied on the neckline front and back.

Bride Wailani Artates with her Bridesmaids on her wedding day. Another custom wedding gown we created.

It is with a warm heart we reflect on our humble beginnings – from Jennifer working out of her home studio to where we are today.

Our one room studio space in Makawao Plaza.

When we first moved into our studio space at Makawao Plaza, we had one room. It was very sweet and small and exactly what we needed at the time. There was just enough room for a small changing room, a few sewing machines, a table and a seating area for our clients. Then, we expanded into the second room. We quickly filled that space with an expanded fitting room, storage closet, and larger changing room.  In June 2021, we moved to the first floor of our building into a much larger and spacious studio to host our growing Atelier.

Our new studio space we moved into June 2021.

We now operate our professional Atelier off of Baldwin Avenue in Makawao in a beautiful, bright spacious studio. We have an amazing team including Jennifer, our talented sewing assistants – Elaine, Sophia, Lynne, and Lisa, our incredible office coordinator Yasmine, and our newest addition – Atelier assistant Micah. 

Many thanks to the Maui community for continuing to support our business! We are grateful to each client, new and old, we encounter. We are here for you! From your prom dress to your wedding gown, JOA is here for you for all of your special occasions!

Filed Under: Community

Real Weddings: Kelsey

October 20, 2021 By Leave a Comment

We worked together with Bride Kelsey on a custom wedding gown. Kelsey had a beautiful wedding on June 26, 2021. We have many gorgeous photos to share from Kelsey’s wedding day. All of the photography was captured by the talented Amber Caires, you can follow her on instagram @ambervisionphoto. Have a peek into this special day….

Kelsey’s custom wedding gown has 12 yards of luxurious 4-ply silk crêpe on the outer layer. The lining is made from 12 yards of dreamy-to-wear silk charmeuse. The gown has a darling detail of a ½ inch embroidered lace around the waist. We also created a 3-point English Pick-up Bustle for her gown.

A sweet testimonial from Kelsey:

“Jennifer and her entire team were a total dream to work with. After a few crises at other places, I was dress-less just two months before my wedding. I went to Jennifer with my concept and she created my dress from scratch! She has an expert eye for detail and was also very conscious of costs in materials, which I really appreciated. I was prepared for a high-stress experience so close to the wedding date, but Jennifer and her team were so sweet, smooth, and enjoyable to work with! Not a second of stress and I have nothing but gratitude for everyone over there. I truly can’t recommend them enough.” – Kelsey S

It was an absolute pleasure working together with Kelsey. The custom wedding gown process is a very unique and memorable experience. We love the relationships that are created with our clients during this creative process. Get in touch for any custom wedding gown inquiries at love@jenniferoberg.com.

Filed Under: Dressmaking, Real Weddings

Embassy Ballgown Recreation Series – Part 1

October 13, 2021 By Leave a Comment

Kendall Jenner’s dress at the Met Gala has us reminiscing on the time we recreated Audrey Hepburn’s iconic Embassy Ballgown from the 1964 film My Fair Lady. This is one of our more adventurous, exciting, mysterious, and elaborate dressmaking stories that we just have to share with you! Due to the length of the process of this recreation, we are devoting a short blog series in order to share all of the juicy details from this dressmaking tale.

A few years ago, Bride Lorri from Austin, Texas, reached out to us about recreating Audrey Hepburn’s Embassy Ballgown from My Fair Lady for her wedding on the Amalfi Coast in Italy.  It had been her dream as a girl to have this dress for her wedding gown.  Her fiance Michael searched online to find the best dressmaker for the job, and came across our website.  We were blown away that they reached out to us, all the way on Maui!  But it was the perfect match. Jennifer had spent years working in professional costume shops in theatre and Hollywood before coming to Maui, so she had the connections to find out as much as possible about the gown.  And of course, she is a master dressmaker.  Sometimes when a person wishes to recreate a piece they’ve seen in a film before, the finished product might appear “costumey”.  But with Jennifer’s extensive background, she was able to make the dress into a true couture gown worthy of a beautiful wedding in Italy.

After discussing with the bride about the vision and details of this wedding gown recreation, Jennifer immediately dived into the long process of researching and investigating this famous beaded gown. And this next part of the story is where the mystery and searching began! But this is to be continued in part two of the series. For now, check out the photos below of Kendall Jenner’s Met Gala gown, Audrey Hepburn’s Embassy Ballgown, and the Bride Lorri’s wedding gown. 

Kendall Jenner at the Met Gala

Audrey Hepburn’s Embassy Ballgown in ‘My Fair Lady’

Dressmaker Jennifer Oberg with Bride Lorri

Lorri and Michael on their wedding day

Bride Lorri in her wedding gown

Filed Under: A story behind the gown, Dressmaking, My Fair Lady

Real Weddings: Jada & Kurt

October 6, 2021 By Leave a Comment

Jada and Kurt were scheduled to get married on June 1, 2020 at the Hui No’eau Arts Center on Maui. They had to reschedule their wedding for a year later, and they tied the knot on June 1, 2021! Congratulations to this gorgeous couple! And brava to all the couples finding ways to make their weddings work amidst the pandemic. We are happy to see our clients finding safe ways to tie the knot. 

We worked together with Jada and Kurt on alterations for their wedding clothes. We always enjoy working together with both the Bride and Groom. 

We altered Jada’s gorgeous beaded gown. We love working with beaded dresses. Check out our last blog about working with beaded gowns here. For Jada’s gown, we lengthened the straps, and made them cross in the back to provide more support over the shoulder.  We took the dress in around the bust and took the zipper in on the back.  We also hemmed the dress, a very nice and meditative process when it comes to working with the intricacy of beaded gowns. The beading was delicate and lovely and we enjoyed putting our heart and soul into the process.  

For Kurt’s wedding clothes, we tailored his shirt so that it fit better through the body.  We find that many men’s shirts fit through the shoulders and are too full in the waist area. This means you end up with a lot of bulky fabric to tuck into the pants.  So streamlining the fit makes a better look overall. We also hemmed his pants.  

We love working on both the bride and groom’s clothing! Get in touch if you and your partner need wedding attire alterations, we would love to work together with you!

Filed Under: Alterations, Dressmaking, Real Weddings