Wedding Dress Construction Details

Hi everyone!  In my last post, I showed pictures of my finished wedding dress.  This time around, I'm showing the construction process.  The post is fairly picture-heavy - there were a lot of steps. In case you missed the last post, here is the dress.

This is a picture right before we got married.  We waited in the hall and took a deep breath before going outside to the back yard where everyone was waiting. I didn't want to walk out all by myself with him waiting, so we went together. 

I was really nervous about wearing a dress that looked homemade. I think the worst compliment you can get about any homemade item you have is from (probably) well-meaning strangers - "That is nice - did you make that?".  That one always makes me feel terrible.  It is the one that says - "Yes, it is clear to me that you have made this yourself."  Ugh.

This dress is in three parts.  Part one - the petticoat.

This is the largest petticoat ever.  I felt so round and fluffy.  It was an upcycled petticoat that I picked up at a thrift store.  It was a floor-length with three tiers but the waist is a nice elastic and I'll bet it was expensive when it was new.  All I did was take off the bottom two layers to make it tea length and re-sew the tulle. I used a serger for the bottom hem.  It was a lot faster than making it all myself.

Part Two - the satin under-dress.  The pattern is Simplicity 1194. I made it in ivory with a am showing it here with a champagne sash.

I made four changes to the pattern.

•  I added an inch to the bodice and made it longer.  My torso must be long because I find myself doing this to a lot of patterns.
• I took off the straps and made it strapless.
• I made it fully self-lined instead of using facings.  I don't usually like using facings and seem to find ways to avoid them.
• I added boning and some light-weight interfacing layer to the inside.

Inside of the dress

The dress has a lapped zipper (thanks to the Craftsy Mastering Zipper Techniques Class) and I added n silk covered button and loop.

Part Three - the lace layer. The lace layer is a mix of Vogue 8943 and Simplicity 8470.  For the skirt, I wanted to avoid pleats and gathers and love the look of a circle skirt.  But to be able to use the edge on the lace, I had to cut the skirt in panels.  I did use the Simplicity 8470, but then added a couple of inches on either side toward the hem of each panel for a fuller skirt.

It ended up being about a half circle skirt.  Luckily, through no special effort, the lines on the skirt panels lined up perfectly with the darts in the bodice. Below is the skirt before I sewed it on the bodice.  All of the panels are sewn, then finished up with a serger.

I made three changes to the bodice of Vogue 8943 - once is that I added an inch to it (shown in red below).  In the past, I have been known to ignore the "lengthen or shorten here" directions and just adding more to the bottom of the piece.  But on this, I even followed instructions. 

I also shortened the sleeves to 3/4 length and changed the back of the bodice to a V shape instead of ending at the neckline.

Inside of lace dress

The hardest part about the dress was figuring out what to do with the edges around the neck and the zipper.  I had never sewn lace before, so I wasn't sure.  The edges of the sleeves and the skirt hem were easy... use the edge of the lace. 

 

I ended up cutting the edge off of leftover lace and attached it all around the neckline - front and back right up until the zipper.  You don't end up seeing the stitches of the ivory thread to sew it on - it all gets lost in the lace.

The zipper is actually three layers.  I first sewed on some bias tape to stabilize the lace so I could sew a zipper on the back.  Then, on the outside, I covered the bias tape with the same edge of the lace as the neckline, but cut narrower.

I am sure there are other ways to get it done, but I was at a loss.  I spent a lot of time Googling and looking at lace wedding dress backs, but didn't find much.  I even made a trip to a bridal shop to look at their dresses.  In the end, this looked nice against the satin under-dress.

Here are the facts:

• $200.00 - Satin and lace fabric from SAS Fabrics in Phoenix.  ($30/yard for the lace which feels like a steal compared to prices I have seen online for lace)
• $30.00 - Fabric for three prototype dresses at $1/yard, also from SAS Fabrics
• $10.00 - Tulle for petticoat from JoAnns.
• $10.00 - Upcycled petticoat from a thrift store.
• $10.00 - Satin for sash (not yet blogged about)
• $10.00 - Tulle for veil (not yet blogged about)

TOTAL $270.00 - Petticoat, veil, dress, sash and extra fabric for prototype dresses.

It wasn't necessarily the cheapest option.  I am sure I could have found a dress on sale at some bridal shop for less money, but I am glad I made mine.
Thanks for reading!

Wedding Dress Finished!

Hello everyone! I finished my wedding dress.  Oh, and I got married!  Here is what I found out about the wedding: Not one person I have talked to had a romantic wedding night.  Without fail, everyone  says that they end up giving each other a peck on the cheek before falling over from exhaustion. If you had a romantic wedding night, I bet that you ran away to elope or something.

We cooked all of the food ourselves.  I enjoyed the fact that we had total control over ingredients and I liked setting up the backyard wedding ourselves, but I see the appeal of running off, eloping and having a really great vacation with the money you would have spent on the wedding.  I see it clearly NOW, that is.

I'll post again soon to talk about making the pattern for the dress, but I wanted to show photos of the finished dress.  I was really nervous about it, but I am happy with the end result.

What about anyone else?  High stress or stress-free wedding?  Did you sew your own dress?  Would you do anything differently?

More on the construction on the next post.  Talk to you soon!

Dress Mash-Up: Vogue 8943, Simplicity 1194 and Simplicity 8470

I tried a mash-up of three different patterns:

 Simplicity 1194 ( a re-issue from the 50's),  Simplicity 8470 (a vintage pattern) and finally, Vogue 8943 (currently available).

Why all of the mashing? My goal has been to create a pattern for a wedding dress. Here is my inspiration.

Isn't it lovely?

I picked up some lace that has a beautiful edge on it and I  want a full skirt (tea length) but it can't be a circle skirt or the edge of the lace would be lost.  I tried pleats, but they didn't look good with my  lace.  I also tried to make a mock-up of a gathered skirt, but no matter how much I try, each time I make a gathered skirt, I hate it.  I like gathered skirts on other people, but on me... so very bad.

This is the mash-up with some cheap black satin and black lace.  My idea was to make a dress I could wear again, but it really looks more like a costume.  (Black Widow Bride!)

I can't tie a decent bow.  Not even after watching YouTube tutorials.  Don't judge.

This dress is actually two separate dresses.   The first is a satin dress with Simplicity 1194 for the bodice.  The only modification I made was to remove the straps and make it strapless.

For the skirt, I used Simplicity 8470 because it has panels for the skirt like pie pieces... which allow for a straight edge on the hem but no gathers or pleats.  Yaaaaaayyy!  I had thought of this before, but it wasn't until I saw it in the pattern that I really believed it would work.

Taaa daa.  I won't need to do this with my final satin skirt - I can just make a 3/4 circle or full circle skirt with it the normal way, but it was nice to see it work.


For the lace layer, I also used Simplicity 8470 for the skirt and Vogue 8943 for the bodice without any modifications.  Without much work at all, the darts in the bodice and the seam lines in the skirt panels lined up.  Huh. 

(I drew the red lines with Photoshop.  The photo makes it look like they might be part of the fabric.)

For the final version, I think I will make two changes - I'll make the two wide center front and center back panels into two pieces each and make them even wider towards the hem so that the skirt is  fuller.  I'll be wearing a crinoline for it so I can get my fairy tale princess on. I wasn't going to, but when else will I get to wear a huge dress without inviting stares and pointing? 

Only two three more weeks until the wedding. It is sneaking up on me.  Dresses!  Favors!  Photographer! Guest list!  Menus!  Plates!  Wine! Table rental! I don't actually talk about much else these days.  I have a friend who assured me that I would be interesting again after the wedding. 

For no good reason, here is a picture of a bunch of different flavors of panna cotta that we made.  We invited people over for a tasting party to see which one they liked best and we will serve the winning combination at the wedding. 

After seven little mini-desserts each, the winner was lemon panna cotta with tart lemon jelly, a square of sweet raspberry coulis jelly and candied orange peel on top.  

I learned that pistachios and flowers are terrible on panna cotta (bad texture combination), candied ginger tastes good with passion fruit but not lemon and that spun sugar melts in the jelly and only looks cool for a couple of minutes.  Which makes sense, but I wanted that to not be true.

Thanks for reading.  I swear, I will talk about non-wedding stuff again in the future.

New Project - A Wedding Dress

After 6 months, I am finally able to sew again. I had to pack up my sewing room while we were fixing up our house to sell it and keep it in storage while we were selling. It actually sold to the very first person who looked at it, but until the deal is finished, you still show the house, so the process took many months.  It is exhausting to constantly be living in a showroom. I also completely underestimated how creepy it is to have strangers in your house when you are not there. I would see little stuff randomly moved around, lights left on or off, footprints in the carpet. Nothing dramatic, but still, people you don't know are touching your stuff. It has an ick factor for me.

We are now renting an apartment and are since it is no longer a showplace, I finally got my sewing machines out of storage and am focused on a new project - I am going to sew my wedding dress for our wedding in May.

I have been drooling over two different dresses.  This one, I found on the Vogue Patterns Facebook page.

I love the champagne colored ribbon.  It really makes the dress.  It looks like there is a clasp at the front, which I think is a clever plan for not having to tie the ribbon by hand.  You can sew a perfect bow and then just attach it like a belt.  I am thinking I could add a little elastic to the sides of the knot under the bow, as well.  You can find a picture of the dress on Vogue's blog, as well.

 

 It is so pretty.  I love the lace sleeves and the buttons in the back.  Apparently, the person who sewed it used this pattern from Vintage Vogue V1084.

 And I can't find it on a blog anywhere, but it looks like there have been some serious adjustments to the pattern.  The front neckline looks lowered, the back bow has been taken out and replaced with buttons and a slip underneath looks like it was made into a camisole and attached.

The next dress I saw online was this one from  BHLDN.  The price is listed at $1,300 (on sale!).  It is a way above my price range and that makes buying it not an option, but just look at it.

 

For the BHLDN dress, I think it is closer to V8766, which I have sewn twice - once in view C, (the strapless version) and once in view F, which I made from a stretch knit.  The advantage to using this pattern is that I would only have to add some narrow straps for the slip, then sew the other view in lace and combine them.

The BHDLN dress might also be close to B5748.  I have sewn view B before and was fairly happy with the results.  With this one, I'd  make some adjustments to the skirt, since a circle skirt won't work with the border on the lace.

 

I bought seven yards of lace with a nice border. I also bought some champagne colored charmeuse for the slip.  It is so pretty in person, but the photo doesn't do it justice.  I don't normally spend very much on fabric, but I had to make an exception for the lace.  It was almost 30.00 a yard.  It seems very reasonable for this kind of lace, but way above what I usually spend. 

My next task is to make a trial dress in some much cheaper fabric. I don't want to cut into my nice fabric right away.  I have a couple of different options that I picked up on sale.  I can't decide which pattern I will start with - maybe it will be a combination of all three.  With any luck, I could end up with a nice cocktail dress.  To be continued...