I'm making my wedding dress! Am I crazy?

No you are not crazy, I'm a man who has been trained to use a sewing machine (to make shirts only), and my Nephew's Girlfriend asked me about 3 years ago to make her a dress for her prom, i accepted the job (with great objections from my wife) but, i just thought that i could do it. the images are below, i have since made halloween costumes, made loose covers for a 3 seater & 2 seater suite of furniture, recovered my caravan furniture & made god knows how many sets of curtains (lined n' all), so to answer your question, try it, you'll be amazed what you can accomplish (my advice to you: Buy lots of extra material for re-cuts just in case, and whatever is left over believe me, you will find a use for). I have also made a dress for my little daughter with what material was left over from this:

Its a lovely idea. Its well worth making a mock up in very cheap material (old sheets even) to sort out any pattern difficulties before you cut into the main fabric, but you will do fine!

you are really very creative. sewing your own wedding dress. my advice is not to fit your wedding dress because it might bring bad luck.

I guess that can be the most creative challenge ever accepted by anyone. All the best lady and don't forget to show me a lovely picture of your dress.

No, you're not insane. In fact you are extremely wise starting your sewing well in advance. That leaves you the option to not work on the dress if your having one of those Midas days where everything you touch turns to crap. (I have those often) I haven't made a full size wedding dress, but I am a teddy bear artist and one of the things I do is make bears dressed in fancy wedding dresses and veils. Those dresses take me over a month to make due to the amount of hand work that I do. Very often they are hand beaded and I make a tiara for the veil to attach to. Those are work intensive enough, I have been asked to make wedding gowns before and one of the ladys is a size 30, which would be horrible to attempt. Fortunately she eloped and saved me a bunch of work. You will be breath taking in your dress, and you can not only be extremely proud of your creation, but you can also feel great because it will be a one of a kind design that no one else will ever create. I do advise that you keep any extra fabric from the dress with the dress just in case you have a daughter and she wants to wear Mom's wedding dress. You never know when that fabric will come in handy when dealing with your heirloom garment. Keeping the fabric with the dress will allow it to age with the dress and keep the same color. Congratulations on your up coming wedding and remember that you shouldn't work on the dress if your having a "Midas" day.

I had my wedding dress made too. My husband and I were low in budget too. We went to scout around for my wedding dress and it was even so expensive to rent one. So a pastor's wife who was a bridal gown designer and shop owner in UK, made my wedding dress for me. She blessed me with the dress so I got it free of charge. I took the Princess Diarie's Royal Engagement dvd and showed it to her. She paused the dvd and drew out Mia's white wedding gown and made a copy like it. I still have it with me.....dono if I can still fit into it. but am selling it off now as it is taking up space in my wardrobe

Hey who says you are insane. You are a very emotional person and what you are doing is right and be proud of it. Everyone cherishes her wedding gown for the rest of her life and you will cherish yours more because you have sewn it. Let me share a secret with you. In India and particularly in my culkture the mother of the bride stiches the dress for her and it is considered as a good sign. My mother had made a lot of things for me to give me when I get married. So cheer up and make that dress of yours with full confidence and best of luck for your future.

I think it is WONDERFUL you are making your own wedding dress! If i had any sewing ability, i would have loved to have made my own, despite my finacial situation...I think making it with your own hands makes it more personal, for an event in your life that is a highly personal! It will probably mean alot more to you down through the years, and if you have a daughter -it would be a beautiful thing to pass onto her the dress that not only her mother had worn in her wedding, but had made with her own two hands~ :)

I think that it's great to make your own dress just make sure that its what you want! it's your wedding no one elses! if it turns out that you don't like it make sure that you stashed a lil money away to rush out and get you a dress that you like! you can find dresses out there cheap because i got mine for $600 and it looks exactly like the dress i wanted that was origanly $1200

I think that's awesome. How fun and special for you. You will definitely have a one of a kind dress. I say just start working on it and see how it goes. If all fails you can still find a beautiful dress for very little money at a variety of shops. You just have to avoid the bridal salons and such. You can honestly find a dress for $200 or if that is still out of your budget start looking online. It may seem odd, but Ebay sells wedding dresses. Find one you like, buy it and alter it to fit you perfectly.

I made my own wedding dress. Watch out for the snowball effect. Weddings are complicated, and even though it seems like you have a lot of time, things all start to pile up at the end and it can be very stressful. I also made the mistake of asking my bridesmaids to sew their own dresses because I wanted everyone to save money. I forgot that not every person sews. So I ended up sewing part of their dresses as well as my own. And as I recall my fiance also cut out 2 of the bridesmaid dresses. I also made my own silk bouquet and mini bouquets for the bridesmaids. And I made my own veil. Was I insane? Yes!If it weren't for my fiance's aunt finishing the dress the night before the wedding, I never would have been ready. I threatened to get married in my nightgown. Compounding the problem, the wedding was held 300 miles from where I lived. And that is what ate up a lot of the time as the wedding date got closer. All that commutting. It was nuts. Delegate as many of the tasks as you can so you can focus on finishing your dress. So yes, make your own dress, but aim to finish it a month before the wedding. That way if you need to do any alterations, you still have time. Plan for weight gain or weight loss in either direction, because all that stress messes with your metabolism. Best wishes.

You are a very ambitious girl! Congrats on getting married. You wedding sounds like it going to very nice, it really shows when little personal touches are added. My niece had a fall wedding and gave out little starter trees, she is an environmentalist. People still talk about it because it was so personal. Now everyone has a tree growing in their yard that will grow and flourish as my nieces marriage has. Who knows maybe these trees will drop off little seeds and make more trees! I hopw so... :)

It is something big to take on, but if you have the time and can handle this project, woman I say YOU GO GIRL! I know that was corny, but it's so true. I think it's a great way to get exactly what you want out of your dress. Not to mention the pride you will have knowing that you accomplished this great feat. Congrats and good luck!

No advice but I think it's way cool and can't wait to see the finished project!

I think it's great you're attempting to make your wedding dress. Dresses are overly expensive today and there is no way to afford one if you're on a tight budget. If you do end up giving up on it, my suggestion would be looking for a white prom dress, which you can usually find on sale right after prom season and look just like wedding dresses.

no I think it is a great idea you can make cloth roses to put on it as well I think it will be beautiful,and congraulations.

since you can sew and have plenty of time it's a wonderful idea. May be some day your daughter will want to wear it. The dress will have so much more meaning to you and your future husband. I saw whe on a craft show where a lady used those polymark or Tulip® 3D Fashion Paint to make pearl beads all over her dress. What I remember it was beautful. So my dear go for with gusto!

since you can sew and have plenty of time it's a wonderful idea. May be some day your daughter will want to wear it. The dress will have so much more meaning to you and your future husband. I saw whe on a craft show where a lady used those polymark or Tulip® 3D Fashion Paint to make pearl beads all over her dress. What I remember it was beautful. So my dear go for with gusto!

How ambitious and cool! You can do it. Like any other big project, just plan each step, and keep up with the work. I have known three girls who made their dresses or had relatives who did and I must say they looked quite stunning. And imagine - a wedding dress made with love! (Not just for the $$ :) You go girl!

That sounds like a fantastic idea! If you are, I would look at sites such as Craftzine.com to see if anybody else has tried it before.