Wedding Dress, Bridesmaids and Attendants - WINNER!

by Jane
(Bucks)

I found that Vogue did a designer pattern that I really liked and so did the bridesmaids. They still do it too! I've made clothes for years, including a couple of ballgowns and a bridesmaid’s dress, so it was a bit of a no-brainer that I was going to make them.

The bridesmaids’ silk was from a theatrical costumier and bridal shop in London - there are several such shops on Berwick Street in London, off Oxford Street and the range of coloured silks is amazing. They will send free snips of material to save you a trip, if you know roughly what colour scheme you are having. Then you can make up your mind at home/see if the colour suits your bridesmaids and then go into town to buy it or order by mail if you’re not local. I chose a crossweave gold/kingfisher blue as all three of us have red or gold hair.

My veil was a whole £4.26 off ebay, dyed cream using a very, very small amount of turmeric! I initially tried tea, which dyed it pale pink of all colours. Bleached it white again, then tried the turmeric. I used too much the first time and ended up with a canary yellow veil and a bad case of the giggles, so had to bleach it again!!! Shoes came from a dance retailer.

For an October wedding, I started making the dresses in August. I began with the bridesmaids, realising too late that I’d not quite bought enough material as one of them had badly under-estimated her size.

Safety tip: just because someone says they fit in XX sized clothes from the high street, don’t assume that a fully fitted bodice from a commercial pattern will be the same! Measure all your bridesmaids first and insist they let you...

Anyway, after crawling about on the floor, reducing the hems to very small and repinning three or four times, I finally got both dresses to fit the fabric, so I had an accidental saving of money here! I remember watching Gosforth Park while I did this! If anyone is dieting, do theirs last. (Mine in this instance.)

Do lots of fittings and if you have old offcuts of material use them to make a trial bodice if you can. This allows you to know in advance where the pattern needs altering. I have very narrow shoulders, and so the sleeves, which were only just on the shoulders, kept falling off. I had to narrow my bodice drastically and I also raised the neckline so it wasn’t embarrassingly low.

One bridesmaid had ‘normal’ shoulders so her dress was pretty much off the peg. The other had very sloping shoulders, so her shoulder straps fell straight off. I solved these problems by making very slim additional straps which were fastened by hooks and eyes and worn crossed over the back. All three of us had this for consistency.

By the time I got to my wedding dress (same pattern but with the capped sleeves) I knew where all the pitfalls of the pattern were and so I was able to get it right and was very pleased with the result.

I got my own silk from a specialist silk shop in Guildford, which made for a nice day out with a friend, followed by a trip to the RHS garden at Wisley. I made my dress in September, as late as I dared! I lost another half stone after it was made, so it ended up looking a bit loose instead of very fitted like the pattern photo. Shame, but couldn’t be helped.

One silk designer dress with train and appliqué lace trim, £172. Two matching bridesmaids’ dresses: £118.25. Pattern: £31. Pattern for my wedding dress.

Bridesmaids’ material was from Borovick Fabrics and mine was from Hansson Silks.

For the men's waistcoats:
Most chaps hire their entire suits. This wasn’t possible for us, as the groom didn’t want any neckties, rather some very frilly shirts which he’d found on Camden market (£34.99 each). The frill went down the front, way too low for any commercial off-the-peg waistcoat to cover without looking bulky and they would have cost £50+ each to buy anyway.

So we bought a pattern and adapted the front to come much lower than usual, around the bottom of the ruffle, and ordered material and buttons (Celtic knot design) from the local dress material shop.

The groom’s mother volunteered to make them (all six - groom, best man and four ushers) and was so careful with the cutting out that there was enough spare at the last minute (less than a week to go) for me to embark on a normal-shaped one for my Dad so he matched them. Seven waistcoats: £201 (£28.70 each) doubling up as gifts to Ushers and Best Man.