When I was getting married in 2019, one of my number one goals to accomplish for the wedding was to sew my own floral wedding dress. I’ve been sewing dresses since I was sixteen years old. And that was my focus during those first sewing years. I sewed dresses for costume events such as Civil War reenacting, Renaissance Fairs and events, and for fashion competitions through a school activity. For every day wear, I sewed short day dresses for school days, church, and summertime picnics. Having the experience in sewing dresses, I felt confident in sewing the most important dress- my wedding dress.
Is it Possible to Make A Wedding Dress from Scratch?
Absolutely! Even without years of sewing experience, patterns are rather simple to follow. It works great too if somebody you know has sewn their wedding dress or knows how to sew. They can be a great asset to this undertaking.
Is it Worth the Time and Effort?
Yes! It has been three years now since I wore my modest, homemade wedding dress. It was such an enjoyable, yet challenging process. I loved wearing something from my own creation. It was the style of wedding dress that I wanted, floral- blue and white- ball gown style.
Design My Own Floral Wedding Dress
This was one of the longest steps. I mean months. I couldn’t decide exactly what I wanted for my wedding dress. And what I thought I wanted in a lace yoke with sweetheart bodice wasn’t working.
I scoured countless patterns trying to find inspiration, even some patterns for mid-19’th century dresses. I finally came across an old pattern of mine with an off the sleeve look, similar to that of a Civil War ball gown. Having done Civil War Reenacting growing up, I always wanted a Civil War era wedding. Off the shoulder sleeves. Evident waist line. Huge hoop skirt. Not marrying a reenacting, plans changed, but I wanted the same shaped as a Civil War ball gown and wedding dress.
To accompany a large, hooped skirt with a lace bottom and a floral print, I designed an off the sleeve bodice piece with princess seams covered with a floral, rose lace.
Fabric
As a teenager, I would try prom dresses on for fun, even though I never went to prom. I just loved dresses. The one dress I tried on was a two piece with a plain white bodice and a white skirt with large floral prints.
While browsing pictures online for floral wedding dresses, I came across one that used a white silk or satin with light blue floral design for the fabric.
When I was choosing fabric, I wanted a blue and white floral print for the skirt. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything affordable. So, I found some blue and white floral cotton prints from fabric.com. I chose the one with the larger floral prints because they were more evident under the chiffon. I layered it with an overlay of white chiffon, with a bottom border of lace.
The bodice was made from a plain white cotton with a white lace overlay. Paired together with a ribbon of royal blue at the waist, I absolutely loved my fabric choices.
My grandmother’s wedding dress was blue. Blue is a staple in my family. It’s our go-to color. I love being able to incorporate that into my floral wedding dress.
As to the floral design, I love flowers and as much as I enjoy growing real flowers, I just want to incorporate their designs everywhere. Having floral fabric brought out my personality. I wouldn’t have been able to find this in a store-bought dress.
Sewing Process
One of the greatest achievements with sewing my floral wedding dress is how much it improved my sewing skills. I learned new techniques for the finish touches. It really pushed me in learning how to alter to the right fit.
The bodice was not too hard. The hardest part was altering the sleeves and the upper torso. My big decision with this step was deciding whether to sew the overlay on every piece or to sew the whole underlay separate from the overlay at the seams. I chose the first option. It gave the dress and more sophisticate and close-fitting look at the bodice, giving the dress more of the silhouette shape. The latter way may have showed the seams of the lace and have a loser fit.
The skirt more effort. It essentially had three layers that all had to line up at the top and the bottom. With wearing heals, which word of advice- don’t wear heals on your wedding day, I added about 9 inches of plain white cotton on the bottom of the underlay skirt. The chiffon overlay skirt need to be cut to the same length of the underlay. Chiffon is very “slippy,” so it was a bit hard to cut straight. The great thing is with sewing, even with a tough sewing process, the beauty of the end result can hide all of that. When wearing the dress, nobody knew the trials of sewing I had. They just saw the beautiful dress that I created.
Sewing my own wedding dress showed me how cross-stitching has highly impacted my hand sewing skills. I sewed the lace border on the skirt all by hand, losing some of the sewing pins in the rug below for over a year. It took a whole day and half, but I loved every second of this step. Sewing by hand relaxes my mind and body. It’s tedious and requires patience, but worth it.
Wedding Veil
I opted to not include a train on my wedding dress. If I had a train, I wanted to wear it all day. I did not care to bustle a skirt. Not because I wouldn’t be able to sew that, but because I didn’t like the style of the back of the skirt. Wanting the long train effect without sewing a train on the wedding dress, I sewed my own wedding veil. It trailed behind about 5’, if not more.
It was created from a stretchy tulle that had a softer feel than any cheap tulle. On the bottom edge, I pinned hand sewed the lace that matched my skirt. I chose not to add it the whole way to the top of the veil because with large lace, it did not work aesthetically. Instead, I opted to start the lace closer to the bottom the skirt.
Finding the One
I never went to a bridal store to try on dresses. I know some people do this to get an idea of what silhouette matches their body shape. In the design process, I struggled for the shape that I was going with at first. Trying on dresses at the store was not necessary for me.
Being an introvert where I become energized from quiet, alone time, trying on the final version of my wedding dress just by myself was amazing. From the hard work and struggles in sewing this dress, I was amazed when it was finished and I was trying it on for one of the last fittings. Heart pounding joy.
It was a moment that I wouldn’t have had if I had just bought my wedding dress.
Is it Cheaper to Make Your Own Wedding Dress?
I didn’t really have a “budget” with sewing my wedding dress, but being a saver at heart, I just naturally kept the cost down. I used cotton instead of silk. Anything from JoAnn Fabrics I bought with a coupon.
For the fabric, it totaled about $150. Add the cost of bodice shapewear to add structure, $50. My wedding dress cost about $200, minus all the hours of designing and sewing.
Wedding
My wedding was on June 8. It was sunny but with no humidity. A pleasing late spring day. The dress held up all day. My feet didn’t in the heels! That would be the biggest change I would make with the dress would be not sewing it with the intent of wearing heels. I would wear flats and would not have added the extra white cotton to the underskirt.
Wearing the veil during the ceremony, during most of the pictures, and then removing it. Now, that was one of the best decisions when designing the dress. It was so nice to remove it at the reception, and I loved that I didn’t need to bustle up my skirt either.
I accomplished my ultimate goal of sewing my own wedding dress. This just inspired me though to take on two more special occasion sewing projects for my first anniversary and for when we bought our own home.
