Project Wedding Dress: Research and Reading

I started summer school this week.  I am officially one step closer to becoming a teacher and doing something useful with my life.

Anyway, being back in the classroom reminded me of an important factor that you may have already noticed.  It is true that I get all kinds of crazy ideas for projects from the internet.  What is also true is that I then research the hell out of them.

This is true for whatever foolish thing I attempt to do to my hair.  I like to use YouTube for actual technique tutorials and what not but I also really like to check things out on natural hair blogs like Curly Nikki or Naturally Curly which both have excellent forums.  The comments are also incredibly helpful.

For my wedding dress project I have created a list of sewing blogs and tutorials that I am compiling in a bookmark folder.  Pattern Review is an amazing source because it also has forums.  I also like to refer to other sites where the author made or is making her own wedding dress for confirmation that it can be done.  Seriously, if you are at all interested in sewing, check out those sites.  Iowahoodlum especially has really good, detailed pictures, that cover the construction of the foundation of her dress that I am finding particularly invaluable.  She also very helpfully compiled all of those posts in one area on her site.  I also discovered another blog when I was trying to figure out how to add a corsolette and Pin Queen was very gracious in responding to my questions.

Additionally, sewing is also one skill where construction manuals are both available and truly helpful.  I was able to get one fairly quickly through interlibrary loan.  Bridal Couture by Susan Khalje is an excellent resource book because if focuses specifically on gown construction and couture techniques.  I tend to skim read non-fiction or reference books, but this one is so good that I'm totally engrossed.  I also have to say-I have a new level of respect for the previous generation of wedding gowns.  They had sleeves.  They had a lot going on.  They were awesomely constructed.  I am just in awe.

Source

If you plan to make your own wedding dress, you should read this book.  If you plan to make a lot of your own clothes-you should also read this because couture techniques can inject some serious quality into your work to make it look handmade instead of homemade.