Tuesday, November 2, 2010

The Story of a DIY Bridesmaid Dress

Last year, one of my best friends asked me to be her bridesmaid and told me she was going with the color of teal.  After searching what seemed like a zillion bridal websites for a dress, I gave up.  It seemed that teal was not popular enough of a color to make in many different styles of dresses.  That said, most of the dresses available were very plain silhouettes (plain strapless or plain strapped) for $200 and up.  I pondered this for a bit and decided to try and tackle making one myself (keep in mind this was waaaayy before sewing any of the other things in this blog).  I figured that if it turned out to be an utter fail, I could always buy one a few months before the wedding.

Let me tell you, there was a lot of seam ripping involved with this one.  My small top made it difficult to really follow the pattern properly without making a lot of allowances and the waist is a bit too wide but all in all, I felt like it passed for a decent bridesmaid dress using only ~$20 in materials (and blood, sweat, tears).  Basically, I took a basic strapless dress pattern (McCall's 5806) and then set off trying to figure out how to make it more interesting.  I settled on a modified ruffle that I snake-pathed across the bust and up one shoulder.

 Sorry for the teeny, tiny pictures!  They were the best I could do from the online proofs.  What do you think?  Pass or fail?

17 comments:

  1. Definitely a success! You're very talented. The color of my 2nd dress for cake cutting was teal too. It took me months to found the dress that I like. For $20.00, you did phenominal job

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  2. Pass with flying colors!! My gosh, it looks so much better on you than it does on the mannequin. I love the fit and length on you.

    Just curious, how does the back look? Does the ruffled strap extend to the middle of your back?

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  3. Sarah - Aww, thank you! :)

    PLG - Thanks so much! Oooh, do you have pics of the teal dress? I just saw PXXS's wedding photo posting-would love to see yours!

    Cee - You are just too sweet! Thank you :) The ruffled strap ends right at where it meets the bodice in the back. I originally did have it mimic the front but from the side, it looked a little too much due to the "floofiness" of the ruffle.

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  4. What a pretty dress! You did such a great job! It's like your own design and looks very professionally done too!

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  5. wow you did a great job once again!! can't believe it only cost you $20. did you make any of the other bridesmaids' dress?

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  6. I think it looks amazing, and certainly not like it was your first attempt at a dress that complicated. The reason I started sewing last year was because I wanted to make my wedding gown. The wedding is in July, I already have the pattern but I plan on making a first draft out of cheap material before diving into the real thing.

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  7. definitely a very high pass!! i love the color of that dress and the ruffles across the front are gorgeous! you should get into the business of making bridesmaids dresses as this one is incredible! :)

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  8. Wow! Just happened upon your blog! You got skills, girl! Where do you find the time?

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  9. Love this! So pretty and looks wayy more expensive than $20!

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  10. DEFINITELY Pass!!! Amazing amazing job, seriously, I love everything you do! And only $20? Crazy!

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  11. TOTALLY pass pass pass!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You did an amazing job- WOW! I am always speechless!

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  12. CurvyPetite, TinyInTexas, Curls-and-Pearls, Really Petite - You guys are being way too nice! Thank you for being such sweethearts :) You inspire me to continue making things.

    PXXS - Aw thank you, everything looks good from afar ;)

    Ping - Thank you! Nope, just made my own (it would have taken an insane amount of fittings to make everyone's).

    littlenashua - I think in the scheme of things, this was my 2nd garment attempt. #1 was a massive fail but did look good on the mannequin. I'll have to dig up some photos to post. What are you planning on drafting the dress out of? Like a satin? Exciting project - you are much more advanced in sewing skills. I tried a BurdaStyle pattern and failed miserably.

    Kileen - You are simply too sweet! :)

    Anonymous - Thanks for visiting! I primarily sew / craft on the weekends - working part time helps too :)

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  13. I think it's increidble! You did such a good job, and I wish that I could sew like this x

    http://pagesixxx.blogspot.com

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  14. Jamie-lee - Thanks for visiting! You have such a cute blog!

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  15. Wow! That's amazing! A+ :)

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