Last night I started the fitting process on my wedding dress pattern, Marfy 568, which just arrived from Milan this week (fancy, right?).  I was so giddy to start working on this yesterday, it was all I could think about until I got home from work!  Unlike the previous patterns I tried out earlier this year, I’m using a nicer poly charmeuse fabric to mock up the gown that better mimics the drape I want to achieve.  The neckline is perfection, and I love the kimono sleeves – just need to alter the bodice to fit correctly, since the pattern is sized too big in the bust.

I’m a little hesitant about the skirts actually!  They all need to be cut on a single layer and are extremely wide, which is going to pose a potential problem with finding silk and chiffon/georgette that’s wide enough to cut out the pattern pieces.  On top of that, the “instructions” printed on the pattern pieces are pretty vague, which I expected – I’m not sure what “loose” means along the waist, and grainlines are not printed but instead the wording “on the grain” is printed along an edge.  I also thought, based on looking at the illustration and not seeing a seam down the center back of the bodice, that the zipper was going to be a side zip.  Nope!  It’s all the way down the back…with no side seams in the skirts whatsoever.  This may mean that I need to have a center front seam in the underskirt layer, which I’m not too keen on…but there’s no way that I can figure out how to cut out that pattern, I’d need fabric at least 100″ wide to have only one seam in the center back.

Anyway, lots to figure out this weekend!

I’ve been pretty hush-hush so far about my plans and progress on sewing my wedding dress, for good reason – it’s been extremely challenging trying to find a contemporary pattern to use that fits the types of dress I want to wear on the big day.

Believe it or not, I purchased five patterns, made three different versions of what my original plan was, and almost changed course to a different design direction altogether before biting the bullet and committing to the Marfy pattern I will use (granted, this was made easier after I tried on a few dresses to make sure what I thought I wanted in a wedding dress is what I really want).  But the main crux of the problem was that I needed to piece together different elements of several patterns to get what I wanted: the neckline from this dress, the shape of the skirt from that dress, sleeves from this one, the train from that one.  So much work, it was like I was designing and drafting my own pattern to get the dress I wanted, which ended up fizzling out in the end.

I
s this part of the reason why not many people make their own wedding dress?

When searching for wedding dress sewing patterns, I found mostly patterns on Etsy from the poofy-sleeved hey-day of the late 80’s and early 90’s, with a couple of vintage shift-styled dresses from the 60’s.  With more people sewing then than now, it makes sense that so many patterns are still out there…but nothing that fit the sleeker, classic styling I was looking for.

Searching for current patterns to use wasn’t a whole lot better – below are the selections from BMV, to illustrate the gap in the market of what’s available for the home sewist.  While some of these are nice, the scope of design is limited and doesn’t match the current styles shown in magazines that brides are wearing today.

McCall’s

Vogue

Butterick

*Simplicity didn’t have a designated “Bridal” section on their site, their limited options (like, 2) were mixed in with “Special Occasion”


*Burdastyle, New Look, and Quik Sew also have a few bridal sewing patterns available, but again, the styling is limited.

Even looking in the Special Occasion/Evening pattern sections didn’t yield anything that would be suitable for a wedding dress; they were too casual or didn’t have enough of a “bridal” feel to them.

This has all made me wonder if the easily available patterns out there to make a wedding dress is a turnoff to the everyday bride interested in making their dress, and if there’s even a demand for more contemporary wedding dress patterns since so few are available.  Heck, if I had the skills and ability, I’d make my own line of wedding dress sewing patterns!  I have so many ideas floating around in my head…

Anyway, I’m hoping my Marfy dress pattern arrives this week, so I can fit the bodice and gear up to pick out the fabric soon, hopefully over Labor Day weekend in NYC.

What do you think – are pattern options a reason not many brides sew their dresses?  Or is it that it seems like such a daunting undertaking? Maybe it’s access to fabrics?  Tell me – I’d love to see if there’s really a need out there!