What I Learned While Sewing My Wedding Dress

(The pattern: same one used by my grandmother to make my mother's wedding dress in 1962.)

(My parents, July 14, 1962. In France. I always loved this dress my grandmother made.)

(My version. I made the dress with 3/4 sleeves instead of long sleeves, and buttons down the back instead of a zipper. This photo was taken right before Mass when The Carpenter and I were with our priest in the sacristy.)

(A friend who came ready to party!)

(The Carpenter and me, February 17, 2012. I wore my mother's pearls that she wore on her wedding day - they were a gift from my father as a wedding present.)

(In front of the statute of St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters!)

(Loved my dress!)

1. You are going to need this book by Susan Khalje, "Bridal Couture". It is out of print, so beg, borrow, or steal it. VickiW loaned me hers. If your sewing friends love you, they will do the same.

2. To gather a skirt, you really do need three rows of basting to control those gathers. I never before did this - I thought one row, possibly two was really all you needed - and then wondered why my gathered skirts were so hard to make. But I followed Susan Khalje's instructions and lo, and behold, the three rows of basting did the trick. I'll never do it any other way again.

3. You are going to have to resort to hand basting your invisible zipper. I've tried every way I know to pin an invisible zipper so I wouldn't have to pull out the needle and thread, but I'm here to tell you there is no other way. I hand basted the invisible zipper on my wedding dress and it went in with no trouble the first time. Didn't even have to do it twice.

4. Buy way more fabric than you need. The last thing you want is sewing stress because there is no extra fabric if you make a mistake. I bought my silk shantung from NY Fashion Center Fabrics and was fortunate that I was able to buy extra when I discovered my cutting layout was going to require more fabric. My lace, amazingly enough, came from Joannes for a very reasonable $ 7.50 per yard, so I bought nearly a half a bolt. That amount of fabric gave me peace of mind that should a mistake be made, it could be rectified.

5. Choose your fabrics carefully. I went with silk shantung because it is one of the easiest silks to work with. If you have never worked with gauzey silk sheers before, your wedding dress is not the place to start.

6. Similarly, choose a pattern that fits your skill level. It's okay to stretch (I had never used boning in a garment before), but don't overreach. Ideally, choose a pattern you have made before, but if that isn't possible, make sure its not "advanced" unless you are an experienced seamstress. The pattern I used was the same one my grandmother used to make my mother's weddding dress in 1962. This was a fairly simple pattern, as it was not uncommon for women to make their own wedding dresses 50 years ago.

7. Ask for help. VickiW came over to help me fit the silk underdress before I attached the lining. She suggested lengthening the bust darts a half inch and that worked. And in the end, I hired a woman who did wedding alterations to hem my dress. My dress was really two - a silk underdress and a lace overdress. That was a whole lot of hemming that I really didn't have time for the last few weeks before my wedding (we only had three months from the time we were engaged until the wedding). Also, I asked her to sew on the button loop elastic and buttons (38 of them!) for me down the back of the lace overdress. The original pattern called for a zipper in the lace overdress, which I didn't care for, although that is how my grandmother did it. I can't imagine how much time I saved by hiring the seamstress do it for me.

8. Be willing to start over. My usual M.O. when sewing is to forge ahead, no matter what - I hate re-doing. My usual rationale is that no one will notice. And usually that is true. But with a wedding dress, you can be sure people will be looking at you, and your dress. So there were several times I started over. I originally used silk organza for the bodice underlining, but while I was cutting and marking it, it was slipping around and my gut told me it wasn't going to be accurate. I scrapped that, and went with a firm cotton/poly voile as my underlining and I believe it worked much better than the organza. And while making the lace bodice, I discovered that I put in a sleeve completely wrong, which I found out only after I had double stitched and trimmed it. I just started over (I had plenty of lace, remember) and re-cut the bodice and sleeve, re-marked it, and re-sewed it. It didn't take as long as the first one, and my second effort was much better.

9. There is no other way to mark lace other than thread tracing. I tried. The washable marker I used simply would not wash out of my lace. Another reason to re-make that lace bodice. : )

10. Have a Plan B. If your dress doesn't work out, keep an eye out for that consignment shop dress, the one on Ebay, the off the rack dress at Davids, your mother's dress, a good friend's, etc. Having a Plan B will help reduce the stress that all is riding on your skills as a sewer. I know what I am talking about here as I had no Plan B. Really didn't. Somehow I just knew it would all work out. But do as I say here, not as I do. Get a Plan B.

I ended up buying my veil. I just ran out of time and in the end I just "clicked and added to cart". I got the exact veil I wanted, and quickly too.

The conventional wisdom is that you should never make your own dress - too much stress, not enough time, etc. The conventional wisdom is correct, but I am very glad I was able make this dress that was so special to me. My advice is, sew your dress if you want to, and have a Plan B so you can enjoy it. One of the biggest payoffs is that your dress is your ace in the hole when playing the "my wedding was so stressful" game with other brides. Any time you can say, "I sewed my own dress," they always say, "You win."

: )

Happy sewing y'all!

An Experiment

Now that I have my muslin sort of where I want it, I wanted to try to make it in a silk charmeuse. As you know, silk charmeuse is absolutely wonderful to wear, but a PITA to sew. Conventional wisdom says you need to line it with a sew-in interfacing like silk organza, which gives it body, but allows the sheen and drape to remain. That sounds like even a bigger PITA than I wanted to deal with. But I got an idea. When I was sewing my Singapore silk dress, I used this fusible interfacing on it: It was the first time I had ever used this particular kind of interfacing, made for light fabrics like silk and it worked great. Usually, I use the all-purpose stuff for my sewing and it is the best fusible interfacing I've ever used:

Chris, in my sewing guild, got me hooked on it; I know everyone has their favorite interfacing, and this mine. The tricot worked great on the Singapore silk dress, so I wanted to try it on the silk charmeuse. I fused a sample first:

And found it looked pretty good from the right side:

So I cut the bodice pieces from the tricot interfacing and marked all my darts on the interfacing. Then I fused the tricot to the silk charmeuse, and cut the silk with a rotary cutter, using the interfacing as my pattern. Here's the front bodice already fused and cut out of the silk:

Here's what the right side looked like before the darts were sewn:

I think it looked pretty good; maybe not as good as if I took the time to go the whole couture route, but good enough considering the time and effort put into it. I went ahead and sewed up the darts and bodice. Sewing the darts were a breeze since I could easily transfer all the pattern markings to the tricot. Here's the inside:

And here's the right side:

I can't really tell how it fits since I haven't put in a zipper. I think this is worth going back to the fabric store and getting another 4 yards to make the skirt and finish the dress. The bodice isn't strapless, but will have thin straps to help keep it up. The pattern calls for facings for the bodice, but I usually prefer to line my bodices. But I haven't decided which way to go on that. If it all works, it might be my Christmas party dress for 2011!

Parting Shot: There is no parting shot, but a confession: I managed to give myself food poisoning Thursday night. I suspect my undercooked chicken was the culprit. The good news is that I only poisoned myself - I was in a hurry because I was hungry. I made it to work the next day, but finally had to go home after lunch - my stomach was in full rebellion mode and was not happy. To say my culinary skills are less than accomplished is the understatement of the week. Sigh.

I'm Not Sewing, only Altering!

I'm not good at altering patterns; after nine years of sewing, I've largely been able to avoid it. For several reasons. I'm a reasonably standard size: I'm 5'5" and most patterns are drafted for women who stand at 5'6". I have no rounded shoulders, narrow shoulders, or sloping shoulders. I do have a right shoulder than dips a little lower than the left, but not so bad anyone would notice. Also, I tend to just use patterns over and over again that work for me so I don't have to bother with altering anything. My "alterations" tend to varing my seam allowances as I sew - I'll use a 1/2 inch seam allowance if I need more room, and a 3/4 seam allowance if I need to tighten it up.

And of course, I hate doing muslins. My biggest deterrent to making alterations. But before Christmas, I made a muslin and the waist and hips were too tight. Here is a photo of the bodice with no alterations: My question was whether I should add to the sides of the bodice, or whether I should narrow the darts. Audrey correctly pointed out that I should check the front darts and see if they were properly spaced; if so, I should add to the sides. Summerset correctly pointed out that if I made the darts narrower, the bodice would more properly fit an "A" cup than a "B" cup. So this morning I tried it on with these comments in mind. The darts are perfectly placed. I couldn't ask for better. And I am a "B" cup, I don't need to make the darts narrower. So the answer (thanks Audrey and Summerset!) is that I needed to add to the side seams.

But how much? Summerset also wisely pointed out that these older patterns have the seam allowances printed on the patterns, so it is easy to figure out the finished garment measurements. I measured the waist on this pattern, and compared it to my TNT pattern (that's for you, Anne), and found I needed to add an inch to the waist/hip area.

I ended up tracing new bodice pattern pieces to add the quarter inch to the side seams because the original pattern is 49 years old, and ripped a little while I was handling it. As Summerset suggested, I added to the side seams just below the 12 notch. Here is muslin #2 with the pattern alterations:

It doesn't look a heck of a lot different than version # 1 except that I am not sucking in my gut as much!

Do y'all see any other fitting issues? Does the bust area look a little too big to you? (Or am I in danger of overthinking this?) Let me know if you do!

Of course, a muslin like this doesn't tell you everything you need to know for the finished garment. How will it fit with it being interlined? How will it fit with straps on the bodice and a big heavy skirt attached? How will it fit made of silk? That means more practice.

I think, though, I will be more likely to do muslins if I have muslin fabric lying around. This fabric was given to me by a friend whose sewing relative had died. It's a cheap cotten and I don't like it, but I took it because free fabric is now mulsin fabric to me!

Parting Shot: Vicki's tablerunner now has a new home! A very appreciated Christmas gift - thank you Vicki!

I Want to Sew for Me!

After finishing The Carpenter's shirt, which feels like it took ages to complete, I was feeling the need to make something for ME. I'm sure the Selfish Seamstress would approve. Not only did I want to make something for me, me, me, I wanted it to be quick. So two Sundays ago, I made a gathered skirt: I realize this is a less-than-chic look, but at the time I didn't care. I wanted something quick and I wanted it simple. Nothing simpler than a gathered skirt - I didn't even use a pattern. I cut two rectangles, 40 inches wide by 29 inches long, for the body of the skirt, and I cut another rectangle, about 5 1/4 inches wide, for the waistband. I made the waist 29 1/2 inches long and I think that has made the skirt a little too big in the waist. I need to make it a little tighter in the future. I put in a four inch hem to give the hem weight. I used a red zipper because that is what I had on hand, so I used a red button, too:

This fabric is from my stash, and I bought it at The Fabric Place in Massachuestts about six years ago. It was on the wool table, but I am pretty sure it is 100% polyester - I could tell by the odor when I ironed it with steam. No burn test necessary - there is no more distinctive smell than polyester when it is ironed!

Fortunately, it wasn't bad to work with, and it doesn't wrinkle. It got the job done for a quick project, just to satisfy my sewing soul. If I make this skirt again, I will shorten it by 2 inches for a less dowdy look, and to make it (hopefully) more vaguely rockin'.

This afternoon I wandered into the sewing studio (a/k/a the entire downstairs of my house) and I wanted to do something, but not take on a big project. So I made a muslin (gasp!) of a strapless bodice from a vintage pattern just to see how it would fit me (size 14, bust 34). Here is the front:

Here is the back:

And here are the front and back pattern pieces:

The bust fits fine, but the waist and hip area is a tad tight. I think I need to add an extra 1/2 inch in the waist/hip area to make it fit better. Here's my question: should alter the pattern at the side seams, or should I narrow the darts to add the extra 1/2 inch? Does it matter? I'm leaning towards making the darts narrower, but I don't know the "correct" way to make this alteration. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Parting Shot: For Thanksgiving, the Carpenter and I went to Williamsburg, VA. My favorite photo I took all day at historic Williamsburg - he was squirrel hunting: