Cottesloe Bikini Swimsuit by Megan Nielsen Patterns | Pattern review

The first project I sewed after months working solely on my wedding dress was a bikini set to wear on our honeymoon holiday! We planned our trip to be a couple of months after the wedding due to family visiting for the wedding and work. But this also meant I had time to sew as we didn’t have to leave immediately after the wedding.

The pattern I was working with was the Cottesloe Swimsuit by Megan Nielsen Patterns. It has both one-piece and two-piece views. There are four variations of the pattern. I went with view C for the top (bikini top without the underbust band) and view D for the bottom (high waisted)

Sewing my wedding dress | Part 8 | Final thoughts

I made it! I finished my dress and I made it just in time…with three days to spare! After months of planning our wedding, the big day arrived and we had the best time, but felt like it was over in the blink of an eye.

It has been so lovely to take the time to write this series about making my wedding dress. I hope my experiences and resources help another avid sewist out there who might be making a wedding dress.

If I had my time over, would I still want to make my wedding dress? My answer would be: yes! Even though it was hours and hours of work, and there were points where I felt like it was going into the unknown, I’m so glad I did it. It was a challenge, but through making my wedding dress I improved my fitting skills, learned new techniques and at the other end of this journey I feel like I could sew anything now! I made a dress that fit me perfectly and was comfortable to wear for the whole day into the night.

Sewing my wedding dress | Part 7 | Bustle and veil

It’s two weeks out from our wedding. The dress is complete!! What a relief. Time to celebrate? Not quite… there are a few finishing details until everything is absolutely ready… eek, that feeling of relief shortly dissipates as I mentally check off what is left to do:

1. French tack the skirt
2. Sew the train bustle
3. Make my veil

Just three items. Seems do-able in two weeks… while also finalising the last details of the wedding, completing my vows, and of course finishing a few other wedding DIYs… Have I bitten off more than I can chew at the eleventh hour? Perhaps.

Sewing my wedding dress | Part 6 | Hemming the skirt

We are now 3.5 weeks out from the wedding day!! I have found the shoes I plan to wear with my dress. It was harder than I thought it would be to find the right shoes! Even though I am a short person (160cm/5’3″), I didn’t want to wear very tall heels. The shoes also needed to have a block heel, rather than stilettos, as the wedding would be in a garden with grass. I ended up finding a pair with a 7cm/2.7″ tall block heel. Anyway, enough about shoe shopping, back to the sewing.

Sewing my wedding dress | Part 5 | Appliqué

When we left off in part 4, I had a blank canvas. By which I mean, my wedding dress had been sewn and was completely wearable and ready for appliqué. It took 36 hours of work to cut and sew the dress! Timeline-wise, we are now at the end of July, 3 months away from the wedding day.

Sewing my wedding dress | Part 4 | Cutting and sewing the dress

I have my dress pattern. I have my dress fabric. Now I am ready to cut and sew the final, actual, real and proper wedding dress!

To recap on the fabric I will be using:

The bodice will consist of 4 layers of fabric: the main/outer layer would be delustered satin with organza and tulle layered on top with the lining in the same delustered satin.

The skirt will consist of 6 layers of fabric: delustered satin base layer, an organza layer, 3 layers of tulle and the stretch satin lining.

Sewing my wedding dress | Part 3 | Fabric shopping

My dress pattern has been fitted and is ready for the final garment. But first, I needed the right fabric. While I was making toiles, I was also concurrently scouting for fabric but did not purchase anything until I had my final pattern.

Sewing my wedding dress | Part 2 | The pattern

Welcome back! In my last post, I tried on some wedding dresses and settled on my final design. I wanted a square neckline with a low back, fitted to the waist where it would then flare out into an a-line tulle layered skirt. The design would be a combination of two dresses I tried on:

Sewing my wedding dress | Part 1 | Decision making

Will you be sewing your own wedding dress?? – was one of the most common questions friends and family asked me after sharing the news that my partner and I were getting married.

And it was a question I kept asking myself too. Creating a wedding dress is no easy task. That’s why they can cost thousands of dollars. But then that’s one benefit of making my own dress, it would be monetarily cheaper, although how much of my time would it cost?? These were some of the thoughts running through my head as I flipped back and forth trying to decide if I would sew my own wedding dress. In the end I did sew my own dress, as will become evident through the series of blog posts I plan to write up.

I have decided to break up the blog posts of my wedding dress making process into parts. As I write them up, I will have them linked to this list, sort of like a page of contents. I want these posts to be a record of my work to look back on, but also a resource for anyone out there looking to make their own wedding dress.

Part 2: Finding a pattern, pattern modifications, basically felt like endless toiles.
Part 3: Sourcing fabric and notions.
Part 4: Construction of the final dress.
Part 5: Appliqué. So many hours of appliqué!
Part 6: Hemming. So many layers of hemming!
Part 7: Bustle design and veil.
Part 8: Wedding photos, finishing thoughts, costs.
Bonus blog post: Wedding DIYs – bow ties, seed paper and more!

M7969 blouse top hack in cheesecloth | pattern review

If you know, you know… I made the very popular McCall’s M7969 dress – but hacked it into a blouse top! This pattern is a fan favourite among the sewists on Instagram and now I see why. It’s so comfy to wear and the statement sleeves that gather at the shoulder – it’s the perfect top when you’re looking for *that* top to wear with jeans (or shorts).