This is my process for the second wedding dress that I am sewing!
12/26/23
Step 1: Looking for inspiration and patterns (time spent: under 1 hour)
The client is looking for a high-neck, long-sleeve, floor-length wedding dress with no train. She wants it lightweight so that it is not too hot, but it is for an outdoor wedding in March, so it should be able to keep her warm enough.
12/27/23
Step 2: Fabric and pattern shopping (time spent: under 1 hour)
We went to JoAnn's to shop for fabric and purchase the patterns that we were interested in. The fabric was on a great 70% off deal, and our total for 4 yards of fancy fabric for the overlay https://www.joann.com/bridal-sequin-rose-on-mesh-fabric/18268797.html
plus 5 yards of super stretch matte charmeuse plus two sewing patterns was $108.
The patterns we found were Vogue 9264 https://simplicity.com/vogue-patterns/v9264 for the body of the pattern with McCall's 7999 https://simplicity.com/mccalls/m7999 for the sleeves.
The Vogue pattern has princess seams from the armhole, which adds nice shaping when transferring this stretch pattern to non-stretch material (In contrast, the McCall's pattern has no darts or princess seams, so it works for stretch but cannot be altered as easily for non-stretch). The McCall's pattern has nice close-fitting sleeves, which was what the client was looking for as opposed to the puffed sleeves on the Vogue pattern.
12/28/23
Step 3: Practice!
Sewing a toile to test the fabric. Based of the measurements, the client would be about a size 10-12, but the pattern calls for a stretch material with 75% elastane. Since I was using a non-stretch woven fabric rather than a knit, I would need to go up in sizing. I started by cutting the pattern at its biggest, a size 22. I sewed a short, sleeveless mock up in size 22 to see the shape. The shape worked, but the size was way off.
12/29/23
Step 4: More practice!
Next, I cut down the pattern to a 14 and sewed it with a 3/4" SA. This was too tight, so I seam-ripped and re-sewed with a 5/8" SA. Since there are 6 seams around the body plus a 7th for the CB (that I added to the pattern), changing each SA by 1/8" adds 1/4" ease to each seam, and adds an extra 1&1/2" to the bust, waist, and hip measurements. This also helped the sleeves fit the armhole better.
I used a sleeve from a different pattern. I cut it at size XL, then folded it over from L at the arm-pit to M at the wrist, and cut at M for the shoulder cap round.
Changes I made to the pattern:
using a non-stretch woven fabric rather than the stretch knit called for in the pattern (so had to go up 1-2 sizes and just using a basic sewing machine rather than the serger and coverstitch that I would use if working with stretch)
used sleeves from a different pattern because did not want puffed sleeves
added a CB seam and SA for a zipper
cut pattern at waistline to add a seam
added 1/2" SA to bottom of top pattern pieces (CF, CS, CB, CS)
Issues with the pattern:
Vogue 9264 pattern was misprinted with two of the pieces overlapping
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