My Most Important Project--Ever!

I often ask myself, "if I had known how to sew when I got married, would I have made my own wedding dress?" Luckily, self does not have to answer this question for reals, as I imagine it would involve a lot of sleepless nights. So what's one step less important than a wedding dress? How about three bridesmaid's dresses?

One of my sisters (I have two) is getting married next month, and after much debate over dresses I volunteered my services. The matron of honor is already sewing my sister's dress and her own dress, which leaves three dresses for me. Well, three and a half. AB is the flower girl and I'll be making her dress as well. At three years old, she's already an old pro at the flower girl game.

Fairytale Dress

Because I have a newborn, I do have some special requirements for this special occasion dress, mainly that I need to be able to nurse in it. This led me to consider knit dresses, especially since the wedding is outdoors, in August (it will be HOT!). We ended up choosing the Delphi Layered Maxi Dress, from Named Patterns.

It will be shortened to knee-length. My sister's dress (sorry, but I will NOT be showing a picture!) has roses on it with an overlay. We were looking for a dark green knit with roses to coordinate.

Eventually we found this beauty:

Sadly, it's only available from an overseas seller, and would have been upwards of $75 per dress (for only 3 yards per person) with shipping. Price wasn't necessarily the main concern, but that was a lot of money for fabric that we couldn't swatch, that might not even be here on time (yes, I just found it last month!).

Instead, we decided to go with a solid green. We found a lovely bamboo jersey from Nature's Fabrics and I placed the order over the weekend...only to have a problem with it, too. The remaining yardage was in two cuts, and the colors were inconsistent between them. Whomp whomp. So now we're considering different shades of green for each dress.

I already have a great hack in mind for making sure I can nurse in my Delphi dress, so stay tuned for that. I hope this week to finally have the fabric on order, and buy/print/trace the pattern. I've read reviews and it seems the biggest issue is excess ease in the bodice, particularly under the arms. I will certainly muslin the bodices for all of us (myself, my other sister, and the groom's sister). 

I keep reminding myself, it's only three knit dresses! But in truth, I'm looking forward to the challenge and to contributing to my sister's big day in such a special way. And I know we can all agree that the world doesn't need anymore polyester chiffon crowding our thrift stores ;)

Have you ever made a VERY IMPORTANT garment? How did it go? Any words of encouragement for me?