Making my wedding dress

Mojisola

I made my own wedding dress - years ago now - because I didn't want a traditional-style dress.

The one thing I'd advise is to give yourself plenty of time to get it finished. I'm sure my Mum was expecting me to turn up at the church held together with safety pins!

arbrighton

Wow- well done, definitely not within my capabilities

sunshineandlollipops

Ooh I'm making my wedding dress too! I'm so excited to find something online about someone else making their dress. There doesn't seem to be much out there. I am getting married this August though and you seem to be further on than I am at the moment! I'm using Butterick 5748 which is quite a different style to yours.

I've had to make a lot of adjustments to the bodice already in my numerous muslins made out of old bedsheets and am cutting the bodice now in a summery patterned cotton so I can test it out lined and with a zip etc.

I bought an ivory satin silk with a nice weight to it on holiday. It wasn't cheap by my usual material buying standards but for a wedding dress it's not bad!

Off to work out how to follow this thread now! xx

Jobo88

Sunshineandlollipops, that's so exciting! Its great to read that someone else is giving it a go as well! The pattern you've chosen is gorgeous, are you extending the skirt to make it floor length, or just leaving it at the length on the pattern? Either way I'm sure it will be lovely. I've had to leave myself plenty of time with my design, as I am wanting to add lots of embellished details to it once I've finished the basic structure, and will need a lot of time to do that.

Thanks all for your lovely comments, I spent literally my entire weekend on the sewing machine, and I've pretty much finished my first muslin! I had a brief moment of panic on Saturday where I thought I had ruined it and would have to start again, but it came together in the end! I'll post some pics later in the week when I have time! I only need to make a couple of adjustments, but will need another pair of hands to help me with that!

Jobo xx

Jobo88

Evening all, here are some pics as promised!

the first one, on the manakin just after I had put the top and bottom together - I was so excited!!



apologies for the state of my living room! there were ivory scraps of material everywhere!

another from the back;



you can see that the zip is still only pinned in at this point - I need to adjust to get the fit right!

and finally, one of me wearing it!



when i make the real thing I need to make the skirt a bit slimmer, so that it's more of a sheath with a nice flare towards the bottom. I'm going to look for some decent fabric this weekend as opposed to the cheap stuff that I've used to make this, and I hope I'll start cutting the proper dress this weekend at some point!

Jobo xx

cashewnut

WOW it looks incredible on you already Jobo! So impressed

stir_crazy

It looks lovely on you.

DigForVictory

Stunning! And as you loose weight (admin-induced nerves!) you can easily figure where to put unobtrusive tucks in.

If you are struggling to find a fabric you want to go forwards with, do please visit Abakhan in Manchester which had a bridal fabric range & some sensational pieces of lace intended to be applied to fabric to add wow?

No connection other than as a very happy customer!

Anatidaephobia

Your dress looks lovely

sunshineandlollipops

Wow, that looks amazing! This is making me excited for my planned sewing day tomorrow!

I'm planning on extending the skirt slightly so it's more of a tea-length style but not full-length. I spent a long time using swedish tracing paper to adjust the fit of the bodice and lower the neckline, and I've cut it all out in one of my usual quilting fabric cottons (love a good novelty print!) to make a wearable muslin tomorrow.

On the real dress I'm planning on using the bow from the Emery pattern to make a belt and possibly make a 3/4 sleeve lace top to go over the bodice. Luckily I have a week off soon to make a good head start!

I second Abakhan's too. I've not been for bridal fabric but I love it for the usual cottons I buy and other bits.

Looking forward to the next update on your dress!