Wedding Dress: Research time!
Wherein I List in Obnoxious Detail All the Places I Found Help and Inspiration Online While Pretending to be Working
So Rachel, you've been married over a year. Why are you bothering with this? Good question, other voice in my head. It's for my dear, humble reader, most likely brought to me by Googling "am I crazy for wanting to sew my own wedding dress".
For the bride who thinks all white dresses look the same, and yet none of them are quite right!
For the bride who has Major Fabric Preferences but doesn't want to hire a custom dressmaker!
And for the bride for whom DIY invitations and signage just aren't enough work!
If I am describing you then I have done a decent job with my keywords! Thanks Google! Blog posts were an absolute godsend for this process, so I'm putting all this out onto the internet with the hopes that it helps other ambitious brides.
But first, pictures!
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| Highly recommend circle skirts for the twirl factor. |
My goal was an A-line, circle skirt, fitted bodice with lace overlay, 3/4 sleeves and wide neck. All of this worked out perfectly, except for the neckline. I could not for the life of me get it to stay up on my shoulders, so the day of I just said f it, this is an off the shoulder neckline now, and fashion-taped the crap out of it.
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| Pictured but not visible: two miles of fashion tape. |
In more technical terms... the main fabric of the skirt is a hemp/silk blend, underlined with polyester organza, and lined with china silk/habotai, and overlaid with a heavier silk chiffon. The bodice uses the same hemp/silk blend, underlined with cotton muslin for breathability, and lined with the same china silk. I hand-sewed a lace overlay of mystery fiber composition, although I strongly suspect it is polyester. There's an invisible zipper up the back, boning up the princess seams of the bodice, and the belt at the waist is not attached. I spent 8 months total on it, but many of those months were spent with it hanging on my dress form, judging me. I finished it probably two weeks before the wedding.
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| The bodice inspiration. |
Choosing Your Pattern
Even if you're going to make your dress, you still have to figure out what you want. Make that dress appointment! Go shopping! Take pictures! Pin a bunch of unrealistic stuff on that secret wedding board! Once you've nailed down the shape that you want, start looking at patterns. I hate to plug the "big four", but Simplicity really does have a decent selection. I have a pretty standard body shape so I went with an existing pattern, you may prefer to draft your own.
Tip: you can typically mix and match tops and skirts between patterns as long as two things are true- the waistline must hit you at the same place in both dresses, and the zipper should be in the same location. If you've chosen a pattern that has a natural waist, and want to combine with a pattern where the waist seam hits your hips, you're gonna have a bad time. Likewise if you find a pattern drafted for a side zipper combined with a pattern with a back zipper. The zipper part isn't as essential as the matching waist seam, as zippers usually go in the seam allowance, but I wouldn't take any chances on stuff not lining up on a wedding dress.
The first pattern I bought was for Simplicity 8289, which was designed by Leanne Marshall (of Raincloud fame, if you're as into dresses as I am). I figured the white dress illustrated on the envelope was just what I wanted. It didn't take me long into mocking up the bodice that I got irretrievably stuck on a pattern step, and ended up abandoning it. It's still a gorgeous pattern though, if anybody makes it please send me pictures!
However the pattern did have one piece that I wanted- a full circle skirt! So I kept the skirt pieces and went back to my search for a natural waist, back zipper bodice. I ended up using Butterick 6415 for the sweetheart neck bodice, which also inspired me to do the lace overlay.
Choosing Your Fabric
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| Buying swatches- totally worth it |
- What is the fiber content, and how does that impact its care, drape, and how you sew it? For instance if you're going with a sheer fabric, you may want to use French seams down the side instead of regular ones.
- For more structured areas such as the bodice, are you going to need reinforcements such as cups or boning? Will the structure be visible, and is that alright with you? (If you don't know why I'm asking that last one, look up "Pnina Tornai 14602". Apparently it's a style.)
- Many fabrics benefit from being underlined (which I'll talk about in a later post). This helps it hold shape and keep fine fabric away from your skin so you don't sweat on them. What kind of underlining should you use? What about regular lining?
And don't forget to consult the actual experts! I found a dressmaker in my area and visited her atelier. She had bolts of different kinds of bridal fabric, giving me a good baseline on both price and what I could expect to be working with. The dressmaker I visited had an upcoming trunk show of lace (can you imagine) that happened to work out with my research phase, so I was fortunate to not have to resort to the inventory of my local big box store.
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| Sorry mom. |
Fabric shopping with your entourage can be just as fun as a regular dress appointment. In the picture here, which I'm sure I will have to remove later, my mid-sentence mom is holding the lace I ended up ordering. And if you're not ready to just order something, order swatches, or shorter quantities and practice! While it may seem like an unnecessary step, practicing with your desired fabric will save you frustration in the long run.
Ok ok, on to the resources!
Books
The cover may look dated, but I got SO MUCH amazing information from there. There are tons of pictures and step by step techniques. I borrowed this from our library, but I want to buy it just because.
Bridal Couture: Fine Sewing Techniques for Wedding Gowns and Evening Wear
Full disclosure, I wasn't able to find this book in my price range at the time, but every single sewing blog post I read highly recommended it, so I'm going to trust their instincts and say this would be a helpful resource.
Bridal Couture: Fine Sewing Techniques for Wedding Gowns and Evening Wear
Full disclosure, I wasn't able to find this book in my price range at the time, but every single sewing blog post I read highly recommended it, so I'm going to trust their instincts and say this would be a helpful resource.
Social Media
Create-enjoy.com made her dress, and is in general a great sewing blog
Sew Jasmine outlines the process much like I'm doing here
MakeItInstead did a great video series on her Instagram about making her dress
Fabric
For my mockup (and ill-fated Leanne Marshall attempt) I used a plain cotton muslin from JoAnns. I also bought a yard or so of lace to practice my seams from them, which is a great use of your time and budget if you're wanting to do any hand sewing or any complex work. Anything you can do to stay on schedule and keep your sanity is worth the effort.
I also ordered like, a ton of swatches from dharmatrading.com. They have an excellent selection of both linings and chiffon, and I highly recommend checking out different weights of fabric. I had no idea that linings even came in different weights, much less what I'd prefer to wear, until they arrived. Don't slack on fabric research, with engagements frequently being over a year long, even if you're just dying to get started, you'll be much happier if you pick your fabric intentionally from a plethora of choices rather than running to the store and buying the first poly satin you find. Now if you end up with the first poly satin you find, and that's your favorite, then more power to you. But fabric regrets are real.
Next up: Constructing the layers!
Next up: Constructing the layers!
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| Bonus research shot wherein I sewed a lace sleeve onto a tank top to make sure it looked ok. |
Part two: Constructing the Layers
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