The Time I Made a Tulle Wedding Dress

By far my most daring sewing project of all time, I was approached my my husband's darling youngest sister in 2010 to make her wedding dress.  Based off a blog entry in Swedish.  So of course, I said yes.

The idea came from Joanna Goddard's post on Bliss: All About Weddings.  A few link-throughs and we found more detailed pics.  Katrina said it was love at first sight.  It was the only one that would do.

Loved: the subtle hints of color throughout the skirt.

Loved: the lace accents in between the tulle layers.

Loved: the black ribbon belt and plain top (must add sleeves).

The process began.  It was a paced, planned, scheduled project; my only one of it's kind, really. We found two patterns: one for the bodice that fit so perfectly she couldn't comfortably raise her hands above her head, and another for the underskirt. I made a mock-up out of cheap fabric, then the real one out of satin.

Then the craziness of tulle began: layer after layer after layer of gathered tulle, an entire bolt of white.

I was awash in it.

And it really started coming together.  The tulle was pretty forgiving, and we trimmed the shape after all the layers were on.

We had weekly fittings to make sure everything was still perfect.

The colored and lace pieces were a bit of ingenious engineering on my part.  To get married in an LDS Temple your dress must be all white, and Katrina wanted to be married in this dress.  I added the pieces of color with hooks & eyes, sewn onto lengths of double fold bias tape.  I numbered them in tiny black marker in between the layers and on the bias tape.  I wish I had a picture or video of all us sisters holding the pieces after the ceremony in the bride's room, me calling out numbers like wedding-dress bingo, and placing them all.  It was something I'll never forget, and neither will the cute temple matrons!

The wedding was in California at the Newport Beach LDS Temple.

You can see she wowed everyone!

It was an amazing experience to create this wedding dress for someone I love, and have it worn in the temple.  The most rewarding thing about it is that she adored it so much!  I was so happy to help her have the day she wanted.  She really was such a beautiful bride!

Since this dress my girls have been sure I'm going to be sewing their wedding dresses.  I told them to make sure they give me enough notice.  Think they will?