When my brother got engaged last spring, his fiancee asked me to make the wedding dress. She gave me a picture she and her sisters had drawn of what it should look like. With the drawing, a very basic princess seam dress pattern and an old blue sheet, we started work one afternoon.
After some reckless cutting of fabric and basting of seams, I had Audra put the mock-up on inside out while I re-pinned the seams, taking in and letting out, basting and re-basting. That first afternoon we got the whole mock-up fitted and decided on the width and positioning of the four triangular skirt insets. Since all of the fitting and figuring was done, the dress went together very quickly once we got the fabric.
Dotted: usual cutting & grain lineSolid: modified cutting & grain line
Cheri asked me about the sleeves on the dress. I cut them out freehand, matching the length of the top of the sleeve to the size of the dress armhole. (And yes, I made a trial sleeve--or two--before I cut into the real fabric!) Audra wanted a flared, yet not butterfly, sleeve. To achieve the desired flutter without extra fullness at the top and middle of the sleeve, I curved the sides of the pattern out, and then cut the piece out on the bias so that it wouldn't bind and would have a nice drape. Very narrow hems, slightly stretched as I sewed, finished the sleeves off with a gentle ripple.
The main fabric was an ivory colored polyester damask, while the sleeves were a slightly textured semi-sheer polyester. The whole dress was lined with unbleached cotton that was finished with French seams on the inside.
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