Would you sew… your own Wedding Dress?

Thank you all so much for your well wishes and congratulations! I’ll admit, the wonderfulness of being engaged had quite taken me by surprise – I never expected to ‘feel different’ because of it. But it’s super exciting and so much fun! Whilst we’d been talking about it for aggggesss… and had gone ring shopping together prior to the official proposal, he still managed to surprise me (easy thing really, I’m pretty dumb when it comes to picking up on stuff like that).

Planning is well underway, but… do I have the gumption to sew my own wedding dress? I’d been mulling over this question since we started talking (in a non-joking, non-awkward way) about getting engaged. Back then, I found myself hesitant towards the idea… I’m curious to know what you think?

By the time we were engaged, the concept was firmly stuck in my head as a ‘Yes, yes I will’.

Is it, after all – just a dress. But what a dress! It’s a chance to sew something special, to bring together all of the skills I’ve been so busily acquiring over the last 2-3 years. And I’d be lying if there wasn’t a part of me that wants to shove sewing fabulousness in the faces of people who gave me weird looks when I first started wearing my own clothes Let’s not forget the chance to sew with some ah-may-zing fabrics!

I’m not quite sure where the point was when I switched from being daunted to being decided. Where previously terror reigned at the mere thought, there’s now a quiet determination to break it down into manageable chunks and the confidence that, yeah, I could probably do this, and do it half decently well too.

So, Project Wedding Dress is on, people. I started by trawling the interwebs for ladies who have already walked this path:

Kat – The Engineer’s Other Life sewed Vogue 8150 with the most drapelicious silk double georgette for her elopement, and looked damn good!

Molly – Toferet’s Empty Bobbin sewed Style Arc’s Pippa Dress and looked amazing.

Veanna - SoSewLovely not only sewed Burda 108 (March 2010 magazine) for her ceremony, but she also sewed the stunning red dress with Vogue 1030 for her reception. Incredible!

Clare – Sew Dixie Lou made a gorgeous vintage inspired lace dress – the pattern for which she drafted herself. Respect.

Stephanie – Orchids in May sewed her own lace-confection creation from Vogue 2979.

Melissa – Fehr Trade refashioned her grandmothers wedding gown! I’m impressed!

Mel – The Curious Kiwi sewed her sleek white gown, looked lovely and wrote extensively about the subject!

Plus there’s a whole stack of other ladies featured on Burdastyle who have sewn their own. I’m sure there are many other’s blogged that I haven’t yet stumbled across too (do let me know if you know any good ones!).

After going on a pinning frenzy (honestly, how did people plan weddings pre-Pinterest???), I decided to follow Mel’s sew-your-own-wedding-dress advice and spend some time trying on dresses. I grabbed my best gal-pals and hit the major wedding dress destination streets and tried on everything. From poofy big-fat-greek-wedding-style dresses, to vintage and all the way to more modern, sleek and streamlined gowns, and as I’d suspected, there was a BIG discrepancy between what I thought I would like versus what I actually like to see on me. How often have you oogled a garment on a mannequin/someone else only to discover that when you actually put it on, all the magic is gone?

I was dead-set against wearing a strapless white gown, for instance. So it was a serving of humble pie for me when 1 of my top 3 favourite dresses tried on was a white, strapless number. Be still, my traitorous heart.

I’ve always been a fan of the idea of wearing a coloured dress. And by coloured, I do not mean ivory, cream or pale pink! Should I even mention that another in my top three tried on favourites was a sequinned number? Regardless, wedding dress shopping is an amazing opportunity to geek out investigating various applique, lace, boning and embellishment details in the change rooms… Not to mention being able to chat to the people who are living the dream.

J’Aton Couture Gown

I’ve often daydreamed about quitting my day-job and begging the J’Aton boys for an apprenticeship.

J’Aton Couture bridesmaid gowns

Whilst I probably won’t start sewing in earnest until early next year (plenty of time yet, people) I have a few ideas mapped out in my head and I’m secretly hoping to hear the siren song of the fabric-to-be when shopping in New York… Wish me luck.

So… would you sew your own wedding dress?