The Wedding Dress

My niece Chrystal is getting married in June.  She asked my Mom and I to make her wedding dress for her upcoming June Wedding.  She said  it would make the occasion extra special for her knowing that we made the dress.  Since she lives in Mobile and we live near Phoenix so, we asked her to come out for the sewing process so she could be here for fittings and to give us a hand.  She is a budding seamstress and Mom and I thought it would be a good experience for her to learn more about sewing. 

Mom and I had been shopping to pick the material several times and could not find exactly what we wanted.  The pattern had already been picked by Chrystal last year so we had the pattern and knew what we needed.  We found the material at a famous fabric store on special order for over $20 a yard and the basic material for the overlay took 14 yards.  The chiffon was going to run around $280 at that price, then there was still the lining and the satin and the lace.  We decided to hold off and kept shopping.  We finally found the perfect fabric at a wholesale outlet and the cost of all the materials plus the pattern ended up being well under $100!  It's amazing how much you can save when you have plenty of time to look for what you want and know exactly what you have in mind.  We are bargain hunters from way back! 

Chrystal flew out on her Spring break and we began the dress.  We taught her how to lay out and cut out.  She did a wonderful job.  Mom and I began pinning and sewing.  Chrystal become an expert with the seam ripper and we dubbed her the "picker outer"!  Since this was a Burda pattern, it was more difficult than most American patterns and the Burda was rated as an intermediate to difficut.  But with Mom and my combined sewing experience in years totaling around 120 (Oh my gosh!) we knew between the two of us we could pull it off.

Chrystal wanted a back lace up with a gusset, which the pattern did not have, and a modification on the sleeve.cap.  Mom decided to add another layer on the skirt as well, plus we wanted a lining as well as the underlayment to the chiffon layers.  So we had our work cut out for us.  Below you will see the pictures from the cutting out to the final fitting and the almost finished dress.  We still have the hand work to finish, but we are almost there!  We estimated that all totaled we have about 50 hours invested in the dress.  Later, in June I will post the wedding pictures so you can see the Bride in her full regal attire!

The Bride to be, Chrystal

Laying out and Cutting  

 Grandma and Chrystal

Me (Aunt Sandy) Serging and Grandma (My Mom) Supervising                                     

The Final fitting before Chrystal had to leave

The almost finished dress

We think it turned out GREAT and it fits the Bride like it was made for her!  It is going to be a beautiful wedding.  More pictures to come later!