Lessons learned from sewing dresses for bridesmaids
Oh dresses. I do love a dress. I will happily wear a dress every single day of the week (and in fact, I am wearing two dresses as I type this, for I am also rather in love with layering and quite unsure as to what has happened to our summer weather in recent days) so today I have not one but multiple posts about dresses for weddings. Starting with my bridesmaids.
When I started, I had dreams beyond my league for the handmade creations I would sew for each of my three bridesmaids. The plan was for each girl to have a dress that was unique to her, but all made from the same fabric. All started well: something classic and feminine for Abbie, our maid of honour, something youthful but sophisticated for Cassie and something with a twinge of late eighties rock for Beks. All cut from a dusty blue starchy silk found on Berwick Street.
But it turns out that making dresses for other people is entirely different to making dresses for yourself. When I sew for myself, I just try it on before I sew each seam. By the time the dress is done, I’ve tried it on more times that I’ve actually worn some items in my wardrobe! And when you sew for someone else, it’s significantly more troublesome to get that exact fitting part right. Sadly, sewing with silk means you need to get the fit a great deal more exact than something like… jersey.
We were going fine until about a fortnight before the wedding when I made a huge mistake that just wasn’t something I could fix. And I didn’t think I had time to do the finishing touches on the other dresses and also pretty much make that one again from scratch.
Enter plan B.
Through sheer coincidence, the dresses were all quite similar from the waist down. I quite literally sat on the sofa with a seam ripper and took the tops off all three dresses. All the stitching and paneling and details of the tops were tossed to the side and I ended up with three blue skirts and their three white petticoats and one night of horrible dreams in which my three bridesmaids wore ratty old t-shirts down the aisle.
I promise she didn’t wear jeans during the ceremony. But somehow she still makes it look cute.
But everything was salvageable as skirts (aside from the fact that I made one at least a full size too big and she was so polite that she just coped and carried on, bless her) and I headed to Oxford Street to find three tops that would work, now that I had overcome the barrier of ‘it’s a bridesmaid’s dress – it shouldn’t be a skirt and top‘. Oh, and then I had to get over any worries about the girls wearing black at a wedding, because I found black formal tops at Coast, a sort of corset style with lots of layers of ruched fabric. A bit like this in their current collection, but sleeveless. I was in the store for ages as I worked out with a measuring tape and a patient sales assistant. I called Abbie and she actually went to a store near her to try the same top on. I remember having real discussions with the shop girl like ‘why are you still waiting?’ ‘oh, someone is driving to another store to try it on and see what will work’… but I think I must have been too nervous to leave the store without the tops in hand, so I stayed there for quite some time. Anyway, I left with four tops for three girls, as one of them I thought was going to be in between sizes and I figured whichever one didn’t fit I could return.
Meanwhile, my grandmother sat in my flat and fixed my wobbly hems, and said nice things like It’s only because I’ve been sewing for forty years more than you when I was about to break down at some of my mistakes. (Silk is not exactly the most forgiving of fabrics, but mostly I was just on emotional breakdown from having Ruined An Entire Dress. Sigh.) Her help was fantabulous.
So on the day… petticoats (which I made quite early so they were hanging there for ages waiting for something to dress them up appropriately!), blue skirts and black tops, plus black beaded bracelets with one big rose, and blue-grey t-strap shoes from Aldo for the ceremony and blue Converse All-Stars for dancing, which happened to have a lovely print with handwritten words about love and friendship and other such sweet things.
If you fancy making skirts and petticoats, this tutorial is pretty much how I made the petticoats (and I stitched ribbon around the bottom edge for my maid of honour) and this is the process for a flared circle skirt. You don’t need a pattern for either.
And after all that sewing for nothing and the breakdown and the stress, I actually loved how these all worked out in the end.
xlovesx
PS: I never returned the fourth black top. The extra one fit me, so I kept it thinking it would be such a good go-to piece for occasions that called for dressing up. The first time I wore it, I spent the entire evening feeling like I needed to apologise to these three lovelies, since none of them ever mentioned how wholly uncomfortable it was. Bless them.
Photos in this post – with the exception of the first two – were all taken by Ben Roberts who now shoots weddings with Jay and Ben photography.
Read more about: wedding
Next post: The dress I didn't make
Previous post: How to make the easiest of fabric bunting
26 August 2010, 08:54
Looks fab! Love the vintage retro style and the wonderful blue…huge congrats to you, Dear! May all your wishes come true and you may live happily ever after!! Hugs from Germany :)
26 August 2010, 09:23
They look absolutely amazing, and no-one would ever know about the trauma. And besides, every wedding prep needs a bit of trauma. One day I must tell the story of the enormous yellow cello floral arrangement right at the front of my church….
26 August 2010, 09:36
Love the way the bridesmaids’ outfits came out! Reminds me of my Mama staying up all night on Christmas Eve to make me a long-sleeve jacket to wear with my wedding dress a few days later – dear hubby and I were married on a frozen river and a small part of my arm would have been bare coming out of the arms of my cloak!
26 August 2010, 11:36
love reading about the dresses, the bridesmaids looked absolutely beautiful! and i LOVE the idea of converse for the dancing:):) x
26 August 2010, 13:32
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all about your creative preparations of invitations & dresses! Your choice of colour for your bridsmaids was the same as mine…only I had watershot taffeta to work with…just as unforgiving!!! I LOVE the converse trainer option for the dancing, how cool was that! I am now feeling inspired to dig out the photo’s of everything laid out for our wedding…I feel a LO coming on!! I made my own dress too…I wonder if my fabric scraps are still workable?…well, it has been nearly 24 years!!!!!! (yikes!!)
26 August 2010, 13:36
How lovely you all look! Love the colour of blue you used. I’m so jealous that you made your bridesmaids dresses. Wish I knew how to sew. I could have saved a fortune on my bridesmaids dresses (one of which wasn’t even worn as I had to sack her before the big day – long story). We’ll done Shimelle. Your talents are neverending.
26 August 2010, 14:24
Oh how great that you stuck to it and found a solution, even when it had “all gone horribly wrong” and your stress levels were rocketing. So many people would’ve given up and gone looking for replacements. The finished results were great though – maybe the “disaster” happened for a good reason! And Three Cheers for Grandma!
I am so enjoying your tales of your crafty, hand-made wedding. Converse were an inspired idea for you and your bridesmaids to dance – so much cooler than dancing barefoot and treading in someone’s spilled drink!
26 August 2010, 15:15
Loved reading this. Sorry the black top was so uncomfortable, that was a big job for you to take on. WOW They all looked so pretty as did you. I remember the day posted about your gown arriving
26 August 2010, 15:24
It may not have been your original plan, but they do look perfect. So pretty, and fun, and something that none of you will ever look back on and say ‘ew’! Love the idea of the fun converse sneaks for the dance!
27 August 2010, 00:20
Those definitely turned out amazing! My bridesmaids revolting on me at the store and picked their own dress styles during the fitting. When I finally gave in thinking they made them in the color I wanted, I found out they actually didn’t and the girls ended up with black dresses. They were beautiful, but definitely a tad formal for our afternoon wedding!! Eh, it all works out in the end!!
27 August 2010, 08:35
PS I hope you don’t mind me mentioning this here Shimelle, but I’m running a giveaway here on my blog and it relates to you and your next online class xx
28 August 2010, 15:57
that has got to be the best wedding dress i have ever seen! you look perfect in it. and perfect shoes too! i’m so jealous!
not really=)
30 August 2010, 04:03
Love the story…and am inspired to begin to jot down some details of our wedding – 5 years ago this month (can’t believe it!). Despite doing a lot of DIY, I didn’t DIY the bridesmaid dresses….I did, however, decide to order them from the US, because I would save on about 2/3 the price (it was during the ‘boom’ don’t you know!). Lessons learnt: Only chose 3 bridesmaids if you really have to (I have 3 sisters, so really had to) – despite them all being ‘standard’ sizes…it was quite difficult to get a dress style to suit. Lesson two – only order from America if you can guarantee delivery in a reasonably prompt time. It ended up my sister brought the dresses home after a trip in New York – this was not the original plan! and she only returned the week before the wedding. Finally, get a good seamstress…we were lucky that a friend of my mother’s obliged by doing the ‘re-fitting’ the day before the wedding. Needless to say, the dresses have not been worn since. One sister didn’t breathe for most of the day! But we had a great time regardless. I think everyone has stories of the ‘things that went wrong’, though it usually only helps to put the whole thing in perspective.
Loving all the wedding stories Shimelle – keep them up!
13 January 2015, 02:06
The gold-plating on the Apple iPhone 6 models wraps around the two iPhones seamlessly and the golden hue is even seen inside the Touch ID embedded on the home button.