The Making of My Wedding Dress, Part 1: The Decision

It was always an idle dream of mine to make my own wedding dress, but I never thought I’d actually do it. As a kid, I didn’t really have the patience to take my time and learn the most beautiful sewing techniques. I often took shortcuts to an imperfect but wearable finished product. You’ll see, if you follow my blog, that I still take shortcuts sometimes (even on my wedding dress!), but these days, I’m choosier about when I do so.

When the pandemic hit, I, like many people, had a lot more time at home. When my now-husband proposed, I started thinking more seriously about my old dream to make my dress. When I looked online at wedding dresses, I struggled to find what I was looking for because it wasn’t trendy. I really wanted a timeless look. Not being able to shop in person, I thought, Why not give making it a shot? 

I quietly began designing my dream dress, which was a slight boat neck in the front with a v in the back, and an A-line skirt with a small train. It went through a few variations: Did I want cap sleeves, or sleeveless? Did I want a seam at the waist, or not? Princess seams or darts? I definitely wanted pockets.

I used Pinterest to put together an album of inspiration photos, and settled pretty quickly on princess seams on a sleeveless dress. I’ve recreated that album on my Leisurely Homemaker Pinterest account.

I was lucky enough to have the Butterick 4300 pattern in my stash. It was close enough to my design that I decided to use it as a starting point. It’s much more fitted in the lower half (with a slit for walking ease), and the back of the bodice is quite different from my design, but I was confident enough in my pattern-making skills to make the changes I wanted. I began the mockup process (which I’ll share more on in a future post!).

While I was making toiles, I also did a ton of research. I read and re-read Claire B. Shaeffer’s Couture Sewing Techniques, which I highly recommend. I never got my hands on Susan Khalje’s Bridal Couture, but I remember looking into her work and finding it helpful, too. I watched countless videos on the Bridal Sewing YouTube channel, which I highly recommend for learning new techniques! I pored over blogs (e.g. Kat Makes), reddit comments, and YouTube videos (e.g Seamingly Sera’s series) about people making their own wedding dresses. 

Meanwhile, I figured that the fewer people I told about my project, the easier it would be to change my mind if I got too busy or frustrated to continue. Not telling many people kept the pressure off and let me really take my time to design my dress, research techniques, and make toiles to my heart’s content before actually investing much money into the project. 

I don’t think there was any one moment where I decided I was for sure going to go for it. Honestly, I think I always knew I was going to. I just wanted to give myself an easy out if it ever got to be too much. I’m so proud of myself for seeing this project through; it was so special to wear a dress I designed and made myself on the day! I’ve included a detail photo of the dress here, but if you can’t wait to see the full dress, you can also find a few photos on my Instagram feed!

Stay tuned for more posts in this series, detailing the mockup, design and alteration process; sourcing materials; techniques I learned; and whether, with the benefit of hindsight, I’d still have gone ahead with the project!

If you sew, what’s the biggest project you’ve ever tackled? What’s your dream project? I’ve been saying for years that my next big project is jeans… Maybe next year!