Courthouse Wedding Dress

[peppersaskatoon]

Hi Craftsters!

It's been years since I posted a major sewing project because it's been years since I undertook one, but my only real dream for our tiny little courthouse wedding, aesthetically speaking, was to make myself a white, lacy dress. The final stages of putting it together turned into a little bit of a nightmare because I'm awful with deadlines (let's just say there was some blubbering at 5 a.m. the morning of the wedding and I ended up hemming the lining with a stapler), but it was good to sew again and I'm happy it ended up wearable. Just please don't look too closely.

I used Burda 7316 but ended the skirt around the point where it said "lengthen or shorten here." For my size (the smallest one offered), 2 yards of the main fabric was plenty (thank goodness I guessed correctly). I got a really pretty little 50-percent-off lace remnant at Fabric Depot here in Portland and then let myself splurge on silk charmeuse. I probably should have used a more opaque lining, but live and learn. The silk made me a little nervous, and many hours went into carefully cutting it, basting and sewing French seams. (I think I ended up with some puckering in the long seams for a combination of reasons, but I didn't let it bother me much.) My wisest decision was probably to make a rough draft out of an old bed sheet so I knew to take in the back seam of the top and waistband an inch and a half and make the back waist darts nearly twice as wide and long.

Now that the wedding is over, I'm considering seeing how the lace and silk would take dye, refining the hem and neckline, and turning it into a party dress.

Anyway, pictures! (Many thanks to K. Miller Photographs.)

[kaz814]

This is just beautiful!  Amazing job.

[sylvieonabun]

That dress is gorgeous! You have great skill in both sewing and stapling! 

[annigirl22]

AMAZING! It looks freaking fantastic! but I love lacy things in all their goodness.
and you have such nice pictures. : )


p.s. I'm in Oregon too!

[Angry Angel]

The dress is beautiful, great job! It really suits you, you look lovely and you glow in all the photos.

[elderflower]

Lovely, lovely dress.  Such classically simple lines and the lace is beautiful. Thank you  for the close-ups. 


I had to laugh about you stapling the hem.  In the early hours of my wedding day I was reduced to using glue stick for the ribbon around the hem of my wedding dress.  But what the eye doesn't see the heart doesn't grieve after.

[craftewoman]

Beautiful! It looks like you did a great job of tailoring. Good idea starting with the sheet! And your photographer did a great job getting pictures of you in that setting. Good luck dying it.

[acraftyjean]

Truly a gorgeous bride! The dress is stunning!
Congrats on both!

[teag]

gorgeous dress- Congratulations, Good Luck in your new marriage

[FridayFields]

That is such a lovely dress. I really wish I had the confidence to make my own wedding dress; I went for a simple pale green sundress on my wedding. And my store bought dress was no where near as flattering as yours.