I’m Engaged and Going to Make My Own Wedding Dress!

I have been sitting on some exciting news for over a month now, but it’s time to announce that Matt and I have gotten engaged! He proposed in the most amazing and perfect way, in my garden, at dusk, with a ring attached to a garden gnome. It was a beautiful Friday evening and he lured me out to the garden, under the guise of picking snap peas for a salad. He even had champagne hidden behind one of the feed troughs, for when I inevitably said yes.

After a few days of simply relishing the moment, we started talking details. One of the first things that came to my mind was that I would like to make my own wedding dress. I have been reading the blog ‘So, Zo.. What do you know for awhile now and remembered seeing that she had made her own wedding dress. After getting engaged, I scoured her wedding posts and I liked how she asked her readers for advice on picking her dress design. It inspired me to do the same, thus the public announcement.

She even made a “waistcoat” (I am assuming that what Brits call vests) for her husband-to-be. I asked Matt if he wanted me to make him something and he said it brought to mind the episode of the Cosby Show where Denise makes Theo a shirt. If you don’t remember the episode, watch this Youtube video. I think it was Matt’s way of politely declining my offer.

I’m okay with that, since the thought of making my own wedding dress seems daunting enough. And yes, I want Matt to look nice as well.

Here’s what I know for sure, I don’t want anything super formal. I am thinking knee-length and vintage inspired (50s or 60s). I absolutely love the dress that Elsie of A Beautiful Mess wore at her wedding. In fact, I adore her whole wedding and want to copy the whole thing.

We aren’t getting married until next Summer, so I have a year to make this happen, but since there is much to do; pick a design/pattern, make lots of muslins for fit, etc., I should probably get started ASAP. I consider myself an advanced beginner and since there is the possibility of sewing with slippery/fine fabrics that I haven’t sewn with before, that is another factor to allow extra time for (fucking up and fixing).

I need to figure out what exactly I want it to look like and then find a pattern that is close. I don’t think I am skilled enough yet to draft my own pattern, but could probably frankenstein a couple together or figure out how to change just the skirt part, if I had to.

I have seen this Sewaholic Cambie dress made into a wedding dress and I already have that pattern, so that is a possibility. I also think that the Colette Macaron dress could make a nice wedding dress, with a sheer yoke, but I would want to change the skirt to be more of a circle skirt.

I have started a Pinterest Page with wedding dress ideas. There are only a few pins so far, as I just recently started it. Check it out if you are interested and let me know if you have any ideas as well.  I could use some help on figuring out what dress exactly I want and then how to make it happen, so I would love your input!