Here Comes the Bride

It’s so nice to be writing a blog post again! So many big things have happened in my life over the last couple of years since my last post here – I graduated from my degree, moved out of home, started my first full time job, moved house again…and, two months ago, married my best friend ❤

I knew even before I got engaged that I would make my own wedding dress, and moreover, which pattern I would use. I had a very clear vision of the style of dress I wanted, so when I stumbled across this vintage Weldon’s pattern I knew straightaway it was the one. It had the three things I wanted most – empire waistline, with princess seams from under the bust, and a back opening bolero. And given there were only two copies for sale online, I knew I had to act and swiftly bought the one closest to my size. Then I just had to wait until I got officially engaged six months later 😛

Next up: fabric selection! I knew too, that a white wedding dress was simply not for me. Blush pinks suit me so much more than whites do, and why wouldn’t I want to spend the best day of my life in my favourite colour? We’d already bought the boys’ ties so after a little fruitless searching in Melbourne, I bit the bullet and ordered a fat packet of swatches from Mood. Amongst them I found a stunning duchesse satin for me and a lovely crepe-backed satin for the bridesmaids dresses (oh yes…I made those too!!) both of which matched perfectly with the ties. The lace for the bolero I found at House of Franke Stuart in Melbourne – the last yardage off a slightly dusty bolt that had been sitting in the shop for over 40 years, apparently!

Next step was the fitting process. I bought myself a roll of trace and toile and many meters of calico from Spotlight and started out by tracing my delicate vintage pattern. This was my first time working with a true vintage pattern – the punched markings were a novelty! The first toile actually came out inches too big, which was a relief – the princess seams meant that would be an easy fix! It was also too short in the straps – not surprising given I’m somewhat taller than the average 1950s woman. One of my talented grandmothers assisted with fitting my toile and then I was ready to adjust my pieces and move on the next run. Round two revealed a perfect fit around the waist and bust, but in lengthening the straps I’d caused them to angle off the shoulder. This was corrected in version three and then I was, terrifyingly, good to go! 

I made one toile of the bolero included in the pattern and it was such a terrible fit on me I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I decided it was going to be far more trouble than it was worth to alter it to fit and found with a little clever hacking, my trusty favourite Anna dress bodice by BHL was exactly what I wanted. A quick mock up in some Spotlight curtain sheers and that was ready too!

Cutting in to my beautiful, expensive silk fabric was nerve-wracking, to say the least! I was very glad to have the help of my other grandmother for this step as we both painstakingly measured twice before I cut out every piece. 

Construction actually ended up being pretty smooth sailing. Each piece of the dress was underlined in peach quilting cotton and hand-basted together. I decided to finish all the seams with bias binding, which I sewed on in one pass with my trusty bias binding foot. It went together amazingly fast after that – the advantage of only having several long seams to sew! And I have to say, I was very satisfied with the result and how nicely finished it was inside.

With the exception of the under-bust pleats, I sewed the entirety of the bolero by hand using invisible thread using the lace-lapping technique I remembered Allie Jackson using for her lovely handmade wedding gown (which I’ll readily admit was a big inspo for mine!). I used clear plastic press studs as the closure for the back so the centre back overlapped as well, giving a seamless look that exceeded even my expectations! I harvested some of the scalloped edge from the left over scraps and used it to finish the sleeve hems, whilst I left the neckline trimmed around the pattern of the lace.

The final step was to hem the dress! Once my custom eight-layers-of-tulle petticoat arrived (I was very happy to pay someone else to gather all that tulle!) I could mark my hem using a vintage hem-maker given to me by my great-aunt and cut it to length (also anxiety inducing), before finishing the hem with wide horse-hair braid and hand-stitching it in place to the cotton underlining. My dress was complete with a full two weeks to spare before the big day (I’m such a Last-minute Larry my family were genuinely impressed by this, haha).

Now here is the finished product in all its glory…

I felt so truly beautiful and like a real proper princess on the day! Everything about my wedding was magical but it really made it extra special to feel both so comfortable and so like the best version of myself, reflecting my own unique style and talent. It’s fair to say I am more proud of this make than any other I have ever done – man, it even had pockets!! I love how in the black and white photos I almost look like a real vintage bride too.

It’s been such a joy to write up this post – I can’t say how much I’ve missed blogging! It hopefully won’t be such a long time until I post again – I want to show you the bridesmaids’ dresses too!

Until next time,

Maddy xxx