Wedding Sewing: Other Fun Things


I promised I wouldn't be a bridezilla. I played nice with my mother and mother-in-law, kept the decorations simple, and even used the leftover flowers from someone else's wedding (!). Mr. Made and I also made one kick-ass wedding planning team.

But the one thing I went all out for was, you guessed it, wedding sewing. There was the wedding dress, which you've been following along with. And then I decided to do the bridesmaid dresses. (Pictures coming soon, I hope!) And then there was the rehearsal dinner dress, which I showed you last week. From there, of course, little Beatrix needed a tux. And once you start, the ideas can spiral out of control. So for nearly a year, and definitely the last six months before the wedding, I turned myself over to wedding inspiration and just let the ideas fly. Crazy bride? Yes. But a fun chance to make a whole slew of themed outfits? I couldn't pass it up! It was really very joyful sewing and I'm glad I had the chance to have fun with it.

What was on the list extras? A tuxedo for Beatrix, his and hers onesie pajamas (and one for Beatrix, of course) to wear to our bonfire after party, a rehearsal dinner dress, a bachelorette party dress, and a few things for my warm weather bachelorette and honeymoon - two crop tops, a skort, and a new bikini. Whew! I think you can officially call me a crazy bride.

While it can be wasteful to sew a bunch of things for just one event, I'm actually hoping to get a bit of use out of each of these. If the bridesmaids so choose, they can dye their white dresses and wear again (though I don't think you can expect every bridesmaid to love her dress). My warm-weather travel pieces are things I've been wanting to make forever, so this was a good excuse to finally sew them up at a time of year when I could wear them . My rehearsal dinner dress, can be worn again for fancy events (just not other people's weddings), and the same goes for my bachelorette party dress, which I wore again out to dinner on my honeymoon. Both dresses were made out of leftover fabric from my wedding and bachelorette dresses. And even the onesie pajamas, which are admittedly very silly, I hope can at least be a Halloween costume (runaway bride, anyone?). And I'm not even going to make up an excuse for a dog tuxedo - we will definitely be pulling that one out again!

So without further ado, here's a little roundup of the other wedding-related sewing I did this year:


Beatrix's Tuxedo

This one is based on her TNT Milla Milla Shirt pattern in size FB for French bulldogs. In this version, I had it zip up the back with an invisible separating zipper (you read that right!) so that we could easily get her in and out of it. Though it took the better part of a day to make, I can't resist the tiny tuxedo details like the tucks on the shirt, the sleeve buttons, and the little bow tie. Beatrix is female, but I think she really rocks the tux! She was also our videographer at the cocktail hour, so that's what you see in the second picture.







Onesie Pajamas:

I hope to have some better photos of these eventually, but essentially I made some "his and hers" wedding pajamas for us to wear at the beach for our after party. They were insanely comfortable and warm, although admittedly not terribly well made in cheap fabric. Mine is supposed to look like a wedding dress, if you're wondering.








Bachelorette and Honeymoon Sewing: 

As I mentioned above, this was really just an excuse to sew some warm-weather clothes. We don't get that type of weather around here, so with trips planned to New Orleans (bachelorette), and Isla Holbox outside of Cancun (honeymoon), I pulled out all my plans for vacation clothes and sewed them up.

This skort, Simplicity 1370, was something I'd wanted to make for years but had never found the right occassion. I used a bottom-weight fabric, narrowing the shape slightly from A-line to fitted, and sewing the shortest possible length. It was flirty and fun, but so easy to wear. I was especially grateful when the girls put me on a mechanical bull on Bourbon Street!

The first pic is from my bachelorette, and the second is the same outfit again on my honeymoon. I'm even packing it for another trip this fall! (Yes that's a penis crown in the photo below.)





I promptly made two knit crop tops to go with my new skort. I used Simplicity 4070, a special occasion dress pattern and a TNT for me, and took just the bodice pieces for the crop tops. It has princess seams in front and darts in back, and made it in a knit it just slips over the head. The tops are super comfy and pair perfectly with the high-waisted skort as well as some of my midi-skirts.




White Dress

Finally, with a few free days before my bachelorette, I couldn't help but make one more thing. It was a bit silly because I really had everything I needed (see: Bridezilla), but the girls had proposed doing a night where I wore a white dress and they wore black dresses, and it was the perfect opportunity to make just one more thing from my Pinterest inspiration. I was particularly inspired by this beautiful, fitted dress, as well as this one for the back. Unlike my other projects, it was fun to just pull out fabric and pattern and experiment on something new, not caring if it turned out or not. Using leftover fabric from the bridesmaids dresses, a fitted Lekala pattern from another project, and other things I had on hand, I challenged myself to recreate the dresses.

I'm so glad I squeezed this one in, because I really love the results. The fit is great thanks to the custom fit of the Lekala pattern, and with hidden bust cups it is easy to just slip on and feel great. It also looked nice against my honeymoon tan! Here it is worn at my bachelorette and on my honeymoon.



Bathing Suit

Oh and I nearly forgot! I also made my annual bathing suit. While it would be fun to make a ton of different ones, I limit myself to one a year so that I have just a few on hand and can replace them as they wear out. This one is based on another Pinterest inspiration, and was very easy to make myself. I made re-do the bottoms though with the fabric I have left, as they tend to ride up and are a bit on the skimpy side, especially in the back.



Worth it? Worth it! I had so much fun finally getting to make up these pieces, and glad I took advantage of my warm-weather trips to do it.

I hope to be back soon with the rest of my wedding dress, but I have to wait for the photographer to send us back the photos. Can't wait!!

[Find the full list of wedding dress posts here.]

2 comments:

  1. how fun! I love special occasion sewing and planning. And that white dress is gorgeous.

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  2. Wow, so impressive!! I especially love the white dress.

    ReplyDelete

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