It`s nearly two months ago since our wedding. It was a very nice and positive day. As you can clearly see, i`m 38 weeks pregnant here. I didn`t have enough energy left for a big party at this time. We decided, to have a big party next year and enjoyed a very relaxed evening with our families in a good restaurant. It was just perfect. We loved it a lot!

In the last months of pregnancy I was so tired, i nearly bought a dress. Then i told a good friend about and she just told me what i needed to hear. “No, you can`t.” She said, “i`m sorry but of course you have to sew your own dress.” That was the hint, that got me back to my sewing machine. It felt like meeting a long missed friend. In the end, it was a big project and a lot of hours i spent sewing on this dress, but so worth it. Wearing my own dress on this special day, was necessary for me.

I used the gorgeous book Oui, Robes de mariée by Yukinori Morinaga. I received this book as a sponsorship for the Paris sew social in April 15. It`s from the beautiful shop La Teleria. She still has it in stock! Maria is a very sweet person and a very inspiring sewist you should check out her blog if you don`t already follow her!

Back to the book. I felt in love with the stunning pictures, which really highlight the designs. It`s for sure, the most beautiful sewing book I know! It didn`t even bother me that it`s writen in French. I knew if i`ll need a wedding dress once, it will be a dress out of this book!

I choose the basic dress nr. 2. It`s a empire style dress with a little tail. It`s easy to alter the pattern to a maternity version. I just needed some gathers and more fabric for the front skirt. A lot more fabric, my belly was impressive!

Of course a dress like that you don`t sew with a single layer of fabric. The bodice is boned (so I could wear it without a bra) and made of 4 layers (lining, silk organza, a heavier toile and silk). The Skirt is made out of 3 layers (lining i used a very nice silk cotton, a havier in between fabric to give it some weight and structure and the pretty grey silk i got in Paris). I nearly got crazy while hand-stitching the rolledhem of the silk skirt! Maybe it would have been a relaxing thing to do, but it was the evening before my wedding day. There really was no passion left for hours of hand-stitching. The dress includes a lot of hand-stitching actually, I wanted to do it the proper way.

To give the bodice a special touch, I added a golden lace fabric to go with it. That was probably the most expensive fabric i bought in my whole life. But, is there a better option to buy expensive fabric? I hand stitched the whole lace with golden tread so the seams become invisible. I haven`t done something like that before. You`ll have to be patient but it feels like you’re doing some haute couture. The wonderful mohair cardigan is knitted by my mum and it was the most beloved gift i got on this day! She spent a lot of hours knitting. That means a lot to me! Thank you mummy!

And here he is the love of my life. You mean everything to me!

Photos by Manuela Jans