Handmade wedding dresses?

Question

Has anyone made their own wedding dress? If so, what did you enjoy the most and what was your main challenge? If you are open to sharing a picture of your dress, that would be great! :)

Answer 1

I am doing that right now. My sister, who had never sewn anything but a shark pillow, made bridesmaids dresses for my other sister's first wedding.  Came out great. She will help me with a similar collar for my dress.

The biggest challenge was finding a pattern that works with the fabric I want to use.  Ultimately, I have a combination of two patterns (both McCalls) - it strongly hints of Tudor style.  I wanted a fabric insert to make the dress two toned (I'm having a gold and burgundy dress).  

The photo below is what my approach is (and in fact, is a great example - one I hadn't seen before now).  It is the dress front and center (depicts Jane Seymour) However, my collar will be more of a sweetheart neckline than this straight across tudor bodice. This dress is very close to the color scheme (although mine will have more gold because that is what is available).

BTW, this is an absolutely fabulous wedding dress all in white, provided you have access to some heavily embroidered white for the bodice and inset. Using the heavily embroidered stuff for the main body is quite costly ($15/yard minimum).

The biggest challenge of making a wedding dress (I used to embroider them professionally) is keeping them clean!  You just can't have pets around, you have to sweep and damp mop and/or vacuum before you take the dress or fabric out.  Can't wear hand lotion or you'll get stains on the fabric.  Adding beads or pearls is time consuming but very satisfying when you are done.

Finally, take your time and watch what you eat. Unless you are quite an experienced seamstress, alterations after the fact are very difficult to do especially if the neckline gapes.

Answer 2

My MIL-to-be's friend sewed her own dress. She was so busy and stressed that two nights after the wedding (note the two...) she woke suddenly:

"Oh my god! There's a man in my bed".

Just a heads-up about the work involved. Make sure you schedule it with lots of time.

Answer 3

I dont know but my brothers girlfriend makes wedding dresses and she says it lots of fun.

Answer 4

you can go to this site,their dress all handmade

http://www.kanaccasbridal.com/main.asp

good luck!

Answer 5

my grandmother, mother, and i reworked my mom's dress. not quite completely handmade but close. my grandma said it would have been easier to make it from scratch. we added a lace overlay, changed the neckline and added some pink accents and a few other things. the part i enjoyed most was spending time with my mom and grandma decided what we wanted to do and then working on it. the main challange was making the dress fit. my mom was smaller then me when she got married, we added some lacing to the back and it turned out pretty good i think.

http://www.eclecticlightstudios.com/phot...

http://www.eclecticlightstudios.com/phot...