The Wedding Dress

First off, thank you all so much for your lovely comments. Such a nice welcome!!

My next project I am going to share is my wedding dress. I know, exciting!
I really loved making this dress. Well, apart from when I had to take out the lining and make a new one from scratch, when I had to undo the back belt because of fitting issues and of course when I burned a small whole in the lace to name a few ;) The rest was great.

When people asked me if I would make my own wedding dress I always said NO way! Far too stressful and I am not really that good. I became much more confident in sewing about a year ago and suddenly started considering making my own dress. I am very picky when it comes to clothes and usually struggle to find what I am looking for. Imagine me looking for the perfect wedding dress. Kind of impossible. Of course I went to try some on, I think every girl should. Made me feel like a princess and it made me want to be rich so I could wear dresses like this all they time…

I started working on the dress back in February/March. It was quite a long journey but I learned a lot about sewing and what styles fit me or don't. I made five toiles plus about 3 skirts when trying out which style I wanted to go for. I might share some pictures of them in another post.

The first pattern I picked didn't really work, so I decided to use the bodice from the Macaron dress from Colette Patterns and to design the skirt myself. I had made this dress before and really loved it, so why not. I was also inspired by Dixie's version, she looked stunning! If you would like to see more of my inspiration see my Pintrest board. This dress was probably my biggest inspiration when working on the design.

When my mum came to visit this summer we went fabric shopping in London. We found the beautiful lace and the silk dupion a the Silk Society on Berwick street. I also got some lovely turquoise silk lining. I had this vision that it would show just a little bit when I would be walking or dancing. Unfortunately once I had lined the dress I realised you could see trough the white fabric and see the turquoise. This made the dress look quite cold and at the bust line you could see the seam which did not look nice at all. So the linking had to go and I went to John Lewis in a panic to find a new lining similar to the white of the silk. 
As there is not much drape in the silk I used curtain weights to hold the skirt down. 

Looking back now I wish I had taken some more time and refitted the front of the bodice as it is a bit loose. I finished just a week before the wedding and was at a point where I just didn't want to work on it anymore.
I really loved wearing this dress and so glad I made it myself. I had a few comments from people that I spent too much time making it perfect and that it was good enough already. But I am really glad I did. I loved wearing it on the day and it felt super comfortable. We had the most fantastic day!

Have you made your own wedding dress or are you considering it?

Dip Dye Lilou Dress

Well hello there, welcome to my first post. 
May I introduce you to my current favourite dress. So far I have worn it to two weddings and also on a day out in town. I love it so much I don't even care about the imperfections. And that means quite a lot. Yes, I am one of those perfectionists.

The pattern is the Lilou dress with a gathered skirt from Love at First Stitch by Tilly Walnes. It is my first make from the book but I find it very useful as a reference point when I am unsure about a technique.

I sometimes struggle to find fabric, especially if I have a clear idea of what I want. So for this dress I decided to just make my own design. I really like all the ombre stuff that you can see everywhere at the moment. Would love to dye my hair ombre style but, well I am just not quite brave enough.

I found the fabric for this dress at the Backstitch shop at Burwash Manor, just outside Cambridge. It is an indian shot cotton and it is super soft. I used a navy fabric dye from Dylon and after I finished sewing the dress I followed this tutorial. Next time I will make the palest section of the dyed part a bit wider. 

As you can see there are a few weird creases going on in the bodice. I think this is mainly due to the lining, a really soft silk lining, and me not working accurately enough. 

The only thing I would change pattern wise when making this dress again, is to bring the straps in by 1cm as they sit a bit loose.

And here one with an umbrella, just cose I like it ;)


Have you ever printed or dyed your own fabric? Would love to see your makes!