When I was 12 I learned how to tie-dye. Since that day, I have always wanted to tie-dye a wedding dress. I know it's random, but I did. Then, this summer I decided I was finally going to do it, so I began a search for a dress I could dye. I realized something in my search... you can really only tie-dye cotton. They don't make wedding dresses out of cotton. So, my lovely roommate Brittany suggested something brilliant - I should MAKE the wedding dress! Then I could make it what I wanted, AND it would be out of cotton.
So I began the search again - but this time for a pattern. I found a pattern I liked, and before I knew it, I was at the fabric store! So, here is the pattern I chose along with the fabric in it's early stages...
I love to sew! I took sewing lessons for several years, but I haven't sewn in a long time. Taking on a huge project like this was kind of intimidating, but it was also a lot of fun. It was a total of of 10 yards of fabric, and it took me all day! Yes, I did it in one day. Ten hours (the equivalent of five movies) later... It was a dress!
It started with the bodice...
...then it emerged into the skirt and the godets....
...and then finally the hem... It was quite the long haul!
...then... the Sleeves! It was quite the ordeal... You see, the dress pattern is originally a scoop neck, and I followed the pattern and made it so. However, I wanted it to be modest, so I fully intended to add in sleeves. Then the problem arose... I was making the dress by myself at my house. The dress had no zipper yet. I attempted to fit the sleeves. Anyone see the problem yet? Let me draw a picture for you: I'm wearing a half-made dress, holding the back of the dress together, and trying to design how to put in the sleeve. It was rough. As such, I decided to wait until my mom got back from vacation to put in the sleeves. She helped me design them and make a pattern piece for them. So here I am cutting out my sleeves wearing my half-made dress...
Now the moment you've all been waiting for! The complete dress, (minus the zipper) in it's whiteness. Yes, I know, it actually looks like a wedding dress! I was just as surprised as you ;)
The Tie-Dying Phase:Okay, so here is my favorite part! I love to tie-dye! I decided that a project of this stature deserved a pre-test. Therefore, I bought the colors I was interested in with a few white t-shirts. Little did I know that the small t-shirts I bought were CHILD smalls, not ADULT smalls. Whoops! Oh well. It will make a nice gift for my niece :)
Abi had a tie-dying project of her own to do, so we did them together!
The final result! There are five different combination's (as you can see), and I chose the combination in the middle - purple and teal. The other colors were fun, but I decided that purple and teal was the most me :)
Then it was finally time to dye the dress itself! (I also have always wanted to tie-dye shoes, so I took advantage of this opportunity) Oh, so I forgot to take pictures of the actual dying process, but these are lovely pictures of me rinsing out the dye...
This is one of my favorite parts of the process - rinsing it out to see what it looks like! It's definitely very intense...
So there you have it! The early stages of the Tale of the Tie-Dye Wedding Dress! I realize it's a bit crazy, and I also realize it's not complete... But you'll just have to wait for the rest!But the rest of the crazy story will be not too far along... I'll give you a hint: Shantel was kind enough to spend the day doing a bridal photo shoot with me! We did the whole thing - a bouquet, a silly fake ring, and a tie-dye wedding dress!
For a sneak peak...
Stay tuned for the rest!