My Wedding Dress

A while back I did the meme 7 Random Things About Me. I stated in #3 that I made my own wedding dress which several people commented they wanted to see.

We moved to this house about 4 1/2 years ago and I still have many items in boxes. Monday I finally went down into my basement to look around. I soon discovered a few things. For one thing, I need more shelving and boxes. I have boxes stacked up against one wall practically to the ceiling. The boxes are all shapes and sizes so they aren't stacked nicely. Some are full of books that had been on bookshelves in our finished basement at the previous house. The boxes are stacked behind my sewing table so there was about a square foot of space for me to work in. I still haven't restacked all the boxes. The best worst part of it all; there were mouse droppings on top of many of the boxes. Yuck! I felt like I needed a major shower after my adventure.

I was successful, however, and found my wedding album. My actual wedding dress is in a box and sealed up, supposedly to keep it safe. We'll see. I'm not sure what I will get when I open that box in another 10 years or so. I was not overly thrilled with my wedding photographer. I should have forked out a little more money to get the better guy. One thing I did like about this guy is he gave me ALL the proofs. So, I was able to scan in a couple pictures. Unfortunately, my scanner doesn't do the best job so the detail of the dress isn't that clear.

I designed the sleeve of the dress myself. I took the concept from the train and added a lace cutout on each sleeve. I goofed on the length of the sleeves and they were too short. I had to go buy more material and make new sleeves so I got plenty of practice on them! You can kind of see it on the upper arm in this picture.

Oh my goodness, I look so young! I don't think I look that old now until I look at a picture like this!

Unfortunately, the photographer did not get a good picture of the back of my dress. I was really proud of that. I put some extra detail into the back since that is what the congregation was staring at for the better part of an hour. (It was a full Catholic wedding with lots of kneeling for us. My poor husband had to go to the bathroom through the whole ceremony!) It had an open back with beading hanging down across the top. I crocheted the button holes and had covered buttons. I did not use a zipper. This is the best picture I could find and you only get a side view. If you look closely you can see some of the beads.


I had planned on making a studio appointment after the wedding to get a better shot of the back, but I never did. I can't do it now as, like I said, I've aged a little and also put on a little more weight. I'm pretty sure I won't be fitting into this dress again.

When I was making this dress I was living in a two story townhouse. My sister was over one day and the weather got bad. It was beginning to look like there might be a tornado. I had a small bathroom under the staircase which was the best place to go for a tornado. I decided we better take cover and took what was most important to me. Of course, my sister was in there, along with my cat, a little radio, and my dress. I only had the bodice finished by then, but I had put a lot of work into it. I figured everything else was replaceable. I wish I had a picture of us all sitting in that tiny bathroom! My sister and I still laugh about that one.