As little girls we have imaginations. And we let them wander. All throughout childhood and teen angst and heartache in college we still have daydreams… little wanders in the realm of fairy tales. I got my nerd in shining armor… but I was a little surprised at how expensive things are when it comes to the wedding dress. Admittedly my ideas on a wedding dress suited to me has changed as I became older. It changed as I changed.
As a little girl it was the big poofy white dress and the ride off into the sunset. As a teen I had a fascination with medieval garb: the big train, the embroidery, the big sleeves, and corset base. Then in college (after prom with my massive dress that I couldn’t dance in) I went a bit more toward the rockabilly style with the shorter dress. Now, I know that shorter dresses don’t look good on me, that I can’t dance very well in big poofy dresses, and that medieval style is just a dash over the top.
When Jexica got engaged and we went shopping for her dress I got a dash of hope… I realized that wedding dresses aren’t $7,000 like on “Say Yes to the Dress”… but it came with a dash of reality… Jexica has a much bigger budget than I will. More than double. And I just can’t spend a lot of money on a dress I’m going to wear once. I’d rather spend that money else where.
I was inspired by Corinne’s DIY Wedding Dress and then I went on Crafster and saw that there were other brides that had made their own wedding dress. I had been looking a lot online and found some overseas websites where they make knock off dresses but I couldn’t try the dress on to make sure it was flattering first. And then I found several dresses I like that aren’t carried by any store around me… (one in Australia the other I’d have to drive down to Dallas)
I really like this dress: (this is the Australian one)
I live in the USofA and can’t fly on down to Australia to try this baby on. And they don’t list a price so I don’t even know what it costs. But I love the silhouette, the details, the sash, and the fact that is has STRAPS.
But I’m not a big lace person, I think it’s beautiful but I don’t wear it much. But I do love the shimmer tulle on this dress:
(the one in Dallas, the Cinderella dress… literally… from the Disney collections)
But the shimmer of the tulle is so me. OOOOOH shiny!
So last night while I lay awake in agony with allergies I started to peruse the patterns of the major companies… And I came across this:
(Vogue 2979, they were having a sale on their patterns too!)
It has the bottom that I would have a hard time making from scratch but the top is not right. But I do not believe that making the top would be difficult nor would finding a pattern if it came down to it.
Next hurdle? Fabrics… there is a severe lack of good fabrics here in Arkansas. We have a bit of a selection at Joanne’s but other than that it’s Hancocks (mostly cottons) and Hobby Lobby (also mostly cottons)… I don’t know where to get good fabrics or even what fabrics to use. Most commercial wedding dresses are polyester or other various cheap fabrics… yet they are hundreds/thousands of dollars. I am thinking since I want to do a sparkle tulle overlay (or polka dot?) that I might be able to get away with costume satin for the skirt. And I might try going around some thrift store and see if I can pick up a lace dress/top that I could overly the top with. Corinne gave a good tip on the dress she made since hers was a corset top there is a special fabric that goes as the lining of the corset that has NO stretch to help give structure, I might pick up a yard of that for my top just so it holds ‘the girls’ up.
But I definitely need more ideas from people who have done this before. Or even people who have made dresses more.
I’ve made a couple but not much. I got a year to get good! I think I might try to do something similar in black and red for a Halloween costume. I have a nice black mask. It’ll let me work with the fabric and figure out tricks and tips for helping make it a smoother process.
First things first… time to make a home made dress form… I’m gonna need backup!
~Tamara
