Wednesday, January 30, 2008

my creative dress

My own wedding dress:Ah... wedding dresses - never have so many ugly, uncomfortable, almost unwearable dresses been classified under one category before!

I just couldn't image spending hundreds of dollars on a dress I was only going to wear for one day. Not to mention that fact that the trend of strapless or sleeveless dresses really isn't flattering on my plus-size frame.

So what's a creative girl to do?

Sew your own!

I spent hours browsing through patterns in my favorite fabric store, but nothing really grabbed my fancy. I finally realized that I wasn't looking at patterns that would be flattering - and had a brainwave! Why not use my favorite blouse pattern? It's easy to sew, looks awesome on and, with the right fabric should look suitably bridal-y.

Okay, so my top was taken care of - what about a skirt? Or should I go with a dress instead?

Decisions, decisions!

I eventually decided on skirt "E" from this pattern. It's long enough to be dressy, but the train is short enough that I can dance without falling :-)

I found some lovely ivory coloured duppioni silk on sale for 50% off and snagged enough to make the blouse & skirt (and have enough left over for things like guest books)

If you're making your own dress, I think one of the best things to do is make a test garment first. You don't need to use your good fabric, but use something that's got a similar weight and texture. I was sure glad I make a test skirt - I needed to add an extra two inches to the hem (I'm 5'10") it would have been waaaay too short otherwise!

The final outfit only took about 12 hours of sewing to finish - which included hand-sewing details on. My mom actually made hand-made lace butterflies to sew onto both the dress and the skirt.
Making my own dress allowed me to create something unique and special for my wedding - I know that no one else will ever have something quite like it. It also ended up costing less than $200 to make!

As an alternative - check out seamstresses or dressmakers in your area if you don't sew. Shop around and talk to several different people.

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