Wedding

My wedding dress – the test

I thought I’d share a quick peek of my test dress that shows how different my finished dress turned out.

Almond rock wedding dress fit bride wedding day organza silk bridal sewing

I ordered the yellow colourway of the rose organza specifically for the test (So I’d get the effect but wouldn’t be too precious about the fabric… we’ll touch on prices in another blog post), plus used white duchesse satin underneath and white chiffon on top. On this test the under bodice is Simplicity 1606 and the skirt is a full circle I drafted myself. The rose was mounted onto the satin then the front and back princess seams of the bodices were constructed. Each skirt was assembled at the side seams but the layers were kept separate to allow swish.

Almond rock wedding dress fit bride wedding day organza silk bridal sewing

Having never really tried draping before I first tried working flat, laying the bodice on my worktop. On the front I placed the pleats turned upwards, about 3/4″ wide and quite spread apart. On the back the pleats faced downwards. I then joined the side seams and attached to all three of the skirts.

Almond rock wedding dress fit bride wedding day organza silk bridal sewing

It was a really revealing test. The white satin and chiffon was too bright and the pleating made me look very flat chested. The upwards pleats were definitely more flattering but they needed more curves and to be placed closer together. The full circle skirt was great for twirling but I thought it should sit flatter on my tummy. And you could barely see the print so I needed to find something more sheer to go on top. I have a little of the yellow rose organza left so it’ll be lovely to make something from in the future. (Though it’s not as nice as the pink).

Almond rock wedding dress fit bride wedding day organza silk bridal sewing

I resolved to sit and think through the construction order more carefully and figure out if I could drape the bodice in one go rather than joining the side seams. Plus I had to work out how to install a zip into three layers of fabric!

In my next meaty post I’ll share the major part of the construction plus some videos of me making the dress.

(2) Comments

  1. Beverly says:

    Thank you for sharing this! I am looking forward to your next post as I am planning my wedding dress and was just thinking about how to install the zipper! Looking forward to your next post 🙂

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