the dress

I don't remember exactly when I decided I would make my own wedding dress. The idea planted itself in the back of my head years ago, long before I knew Fred or knew we'd be getting married. And when the time came, I knew there were no two ways around it. Even as I got closer to the wedding and felt desperately behind, as almost everyone around me said I should go buy something, somehow there was a calm about it. I knew it would work, I knew it would be done, and I knew it would be as perfect as I could ever imagine.



My dress wasn't about being princess for a day, or needing to look like a bride. I've played enough recitals and worn (and made) enough recital gowns that I'm all set on the princess thing. I don't need it anymore, it's just not my style. Similarly, Fred never thought to wear a tux. He puts on a tux probably over 100 times a year for gigs. On our wedding day we wanted to feel like us, just spiffed up and extra awesome.



Then there was the issue of a pattern. I've never been keen on the commercially available wedding dress patterns. Some people use vintage patterns for bridal wear, and that's a much better option, but it still wasn't the look we were going for. I had never designed a pattern before, but somehow I got it in my head that that must be the way to go. Brilliant, huh? There's nothing like winging it for your own wedding dress. So I bought a book, Patternmaking for Fashion Design by Helen Joseph-Armstrong. I designed a couple of simple items to get the hang of it, and then I took the plunge. Wedding dress or bust.



Let me tell you, I went through so many drafts that I lost count. I started with the bodice, went from measurements to a pattern, made a muslin version, and then set to tweaking. Then I'd take it apart, put tweaks to paper, and repeat ad nauseum. Almost every adjustment affected every adjacent piece, so everything had to be redone every time around. And then there were the complete design re-dos. Those were the days when I would spend 8 hours trying to make it work, and then realize it would work better a different way but I'd have to start from scratch again. I spent a lot of time developing patience in those final weeks!



When I finally started in on the silk I was so ready to go. I had made that dress dozens of times in muslin, at least in pieces, and I was so sure it would work. It had to work, I was about a week and a half away from the wedding! Fred's brother came into town for our joint bachelor/bachelorette party, and it still wasn't done. He left for their house in Westfield to get the place ready, and it still wasn't done. It was probably Wednesday before I got the zipper in and actually tried my dress on for the first time. And promptly burst into happy tears!



I finished the dress at 10:30 am on Saturday, well more than 24 hours in advance of our wedding. The dress wasn't perfect, but I'm probably the only person who would know. The morning of the wedding I sewed a piece of fabric from my mom's wedding dress into the hem, slipped into my cowboy boots, and at that point it was everything I ever wanted it to be.