Full Circle

Well. Well well well.

Sometimes, when you're in the middle of something, you feel like it's never going to end. It's impossible to see the finish line from the centre of things. All you can see is horizon. And you can't imagine having everything done.

Last week was a bit like that. We thought we had come so far, and only had a tiny bit of work to do. Then.... as seems to have happened at most junctures... then, on the Saturday, we pressed all the edges of the lovely bodice we made the week before. And everything got a little bent out of shape.

The thing about delicate fabrics like dupion is that, put the steam droplets from an iron into them and they will fu-reeeeek out. Rather than the tough, shaped, paper-like consistency they previously displayed, they'll go all charmingly soft. Which is cool, unless you, like us, need a structure to keep your design in place. SIIIIIIGH.

So last Saturday, there may have been a small amount of tantrum. Even a few tears. And certainly a feeling of "let's just pack it in".

But no! We shall not fall at the last hurdle, we decided. What do you do when your top won't cooperate? You whack an inch off it at the neckline. So we did. And, thank the lord, it worked a bloomin' treat. And in fact, dare we say it, looked better.

Disaster averted, we pressed on (without actually pressing on the dress, to avoid similar results). An lo. She took form and was completed(eth).

Zip in, on it went and finally, there was the dress which had been shying away from us all along.

All that remained was the hem.

Don't mind the monkey, he's just helping me out a little. As an aside - a few years ago I got my first fancy hat (as possibly mentioned before, I have quite the thing for hats and fascinators).

However, being that it was from H&M said hat had been crushed in a pile of other hats in one of those big box things they're so fond of in H&M. So the veil was waaaayyyy out of whack. I solved this sartorial dilemma by pinning the veil down across Monkey's face so that it sorted itself into a more face-like shape. Voila!

My own dear sparkly heart had a similar problem - the lovely veil was flying up up and away and not draping dramatically as it should. So here it is being pulled out courtesy of helpful Monkey. Cheers mate.

Anyway, let us stop digressing and go back to the task at hand. With mum taking a well-deserved break in Spain, I had 10m of hem to tackle this weekend, between the lining and the skirt itself.

Check it out - that's a whole lotta hem laid out there.

So it began with pinning. More pinning. And just a little bit more pinning.

The skirt had to come up by an inch all the way round, so the plan was to overlock it to just below where the inch was and turn it up from that.

In this instance, the overlocker (NEHHHHRRRRRRRRR THUDTHUDTHUD NHREEEERRRRRRRR) has been quite the saviour. Trying to cut with a steady hand round ten metres is no mean feat - no matter how many pins you use. With the overlocker, it just gets whacked off as you go which saved a tremendous amount of time.

So round and round I went. I took the lining as a practice run. Slowly round it went, chopping off the excess and coming out all neat and pretty.

Happy that I had given myself quite enough training, I moved on to the skirt itself.

I thought I'd be quite terrified, so I put a bit of Sex and the City on in the background to keep my ears entertained. It was the first season where it's a bit rough and they still continually break the fourth wall.

But then, finally, it was done. And just in the nick of time - as you can see from this pic << the second 'looper' thread was mere seconds away from running out. That is NOT what you want to happen, trust me.

So now that it's all overlocked I guess you think I could relax. No. Because it's then back to pinning, pinning, pinning - all round the 10m again.

I managed to remember that my mum had told me to pin the lining the opposite way from the fabric. I managed to get it in a relatively straight line. I managed to even put the pins in the right direction (if you don't sew, you won't get that - but trust me, it makes a huuuuuge difference). And of course I had Carrie and Co to keep me going through all the pinning.

It was time to run it through the machine and hope for the best. Luckily, I managed not to randomly stick up the skirt, or sew and extra bits together, or catch the hem so that it was "all bumfly" in Mum terminology.

Thus - tada! tralala! Hemageddon had passed (we've been using -ageddon a lot as a suffix of late. Love it).

Actually, this pic is a cheat. It's the dress before hemming. But I only took pics of myself wearing it and - just in case, just in case of the slightest, most unlikely chance of C coming across this, I don't want to risk it.

So there we have it. Full Circle (it actually is, I laid it out on the bed like a big circle and it looked really funny).

I have to say, putting it on, that I'm so glad we did it.

For all the extra stress, and the effort, and the worry, it is worth it to have *exactly* the dress you want. One no-one else can have. And one which means something. At this stage, I couldn't care less if everyone else hates it. I'm just glad to have it.

The only thing left, you may notice, is the belt. Having had yet more thoughts on this subject, we've decided to do a wee beady thing. That's all to come. But it's done. It's done!!

Pins, pins, and more pins.

To say we've had a busy weekend would be a bit of an under-exaggeration.

There were pins, so many pins. And so many attempts.

See, last week, I think we were quite pleased last week, thinking we'd got far ahead and today wouldn't be too bad.

However.

In the end up, there was rather a lot to do, because nothing was *quite* right. There's that little bit, here and there. Half a centimeter here; quarter of an inch there. As little as it might seem, every piece makes a difference. Especially when you finally have the right underwear on, which I did thanks to some truly fabulous pieces from What Katie Did.

Everything went one step forward and two steps back, all weekend.

Anyway, we tried one bit. We cut out another bit. The front was wrong.

We fixed the front. The back was too small. We cut out new backs.

The sides were squinty. We cut out new fronts. The sides were still squinty. We repinned them. They were just about right.

We weren't sure. We cut out the new front in silk. We pinned it up.

It was definitely a bit of a slog.

Then, finally... it all came together. We tested out the top in the silk, fitting it perfectly - and then sewed the sides up to see how it would look. When that was done, we held the silk for the skirt around the bottom and, for the first time, we could see how it will actually look when it's finished.

Next week is deadline... we've figured out, however, that we have 10m of hem to sew. Yeah, really. That'll be something!

Also this week I've sorted out a couple of other things - in that, after a trail round Glasgow's vintage emporiums, I finally got my gloves. Trying quite a few stores, it was surprisingly difficult to get white or ivory gloves which weren't stained or ripped in some way. I was beginning to despair when I stopped by Retro in Kelvinbridge.

Downstairs was an accessory-lovers' dream; a huge, glass-fronted cabinet, with drawers stuffed full of gloves, scarves, ties, etc. Gloves were, obviously, the point so I tried not to get distracted by the other bits. There were three drawers with a selection of white, ivory and cream gloves in a huge range of styles and sizes. Heaven. I ended up buying a creamy ivory pair (which was not, as I feared, too creamy against the fabric) and a back-up red pair. Much love to Retro.

Anyway, I realised the only item which I might possibly need, but don't have (and am not yet sure I want) is a garter. I remember seeing my mum's garter when I was wee but I'm assuming that, like the dress itself, that's long gone. So I had a quick look tonight.

And indeed, while I'm not looking for anything big, and certainly don't want to spend too much cash on something so random, this lot are A-Mazing. Who knew such work could go into a small bit of elastic for round your leg?

Holy Matrimony, Batman!

This is just awesome. I'm not the biggest batman fan in the world, and while C does like, he's more of a superman/Clark Kent type. But still, respect must be paid. Check it out here.

Lacey McLaceington

This one is really pretty, I thought. My concern might be, how does it stay up properly with a tie at the back? I could be the bride who breaks something by tripping over her own garter. No

ta. But for prettiness, yes. Here it is.

"He had it coming."

This one actually made me laugh out loud, which was unfortunate as C was sitting right there. He asked what I was laughing at and then when I said I couldn't tell him, he went in a wee huff. Oops. Anyway.

The King

Hail to the king, baby.

There's something very appealing about getting some Elvis involved. The only thing is, it's a bit insulting to the groom to have another man's visage on your thigh.

Cameo

I did a little search for cameo

garters because the engagement ring is a cameo. All in, they're a little too "bar girl" and for some reason cameo also seems to include feathers. Aside from the feather, I do like this one.

Finally...

It's unlikely I'd be believed, but I honestly just came across this without searching. But.

Ruby. Slippers.

Gingham.

OMG.

You'll notice there are two, this comes from what I think is an American thing where you have a "tossing" garter to throw to the bachelors in the group, and an "heirloom" garter to keep. I really just need the one, I don't think I'll be throwing it around. But with cost and P&P bringing this baby up to £40, I'm thinking I can find another quite happily.

There is, of course, the other option. To add it to the DIY pile. To be honest, I had a look for some guides; I'd seen this one on Rock'n'Roll Bride a while ago, and found this one which I think is a bit more my style. It's not complicated. But at this stage, it's like... really? Another thing to make? Probably not...

Click your heels together three times.

Saturday was a fairly successful day. The lining, which we cut out a few weeks ago, was provisionally stitched together by mum to do a final proper fitting.

Even though it's just satin lining, you can already see the form the dress is going to take, and it looks quite lovely even that way. Mainly the morning consisted of mum promising not to accidentally pin me but we got a good idea of how it's going to look.

We also called the overlocker into action for a practice session. Luckily, it came ready-threaded, so we haven't had to cross that bridge yet.

What we did do was practice a bit of serging. Now, I'm pretty used to my sewing machine by now, so the needle flying about doesn't really bother me. But when there are two needles, two "loopers" - needleish things at the bottom which shoot in and out - a knife flying about and some sort of strange spring going in and out, it starts to get a little scary again.

The results, though, make it all worth it. The neatness of the serged seams and the way the overlocked edges are fray-free, will give everything, as mum keeps repeating, "a more professional finish". We certainly hope so.

This week I also started cutting my first bridesmaid dresses. We went up to Mandors for a big fabric shop - one lot of navy blue fabric, one lot of royal blue, and one lot of "turtle" green. The fourth lot, which will be a kind of turquoisey bluey greeny is waiting til the bridesmaid in question can have a look and pick the colour herself.

Into this

rainbow will be my favourite fabric everrrrr... silk dupion in "Flower of Scotland" tartan print. I made a dress from this a couple of years ago for a friend's wedding and, if I didn't think it was mean to make them all dress like the Bay City Rollers, I'd probably have decked them all out in it.

Anyway, the colours fit together within the tartan, which we are going to turn into wraps (one side tartan, one side plain colour to match the dresses). Such is my plan. Mum has yet to be convinced of the genius of it... we shall see.

The thing which is causing some issues - in my head only - with the bridesmaids is the accessories. I think I've driven them half crazy with links to red shoes. Red shoes, you see, are the defining factor.

Why? Well it brings us back to the movies. Which is, of course, the Wizard of Oz.

Bridesmaid Louisa - officially my longest-serving friend, who I have known since she was born - says she remembers me telling her I would wear ruby slippers whenever I got married.

I had red shoes when I was little, but when I got to university I found the first pair which really could earn the ruby slippers title. They were flats from Office and they were loved so sincerely that I wore them thin, so badly that they let water in and started to fall apart. I still have them because I could not bear to put them in the bin.

Luckily, a few years later Marks and Spencer had a flash of shoe genius just before Christmas

and came out with these beauties. Not only with the sequins but with the high heels too. They are pretty much the perfect shoes. C duly bought them as my Christmas present that year (I knew he was a keeper).

Although I've worn them a couple of times, I have, rather oddly for me, kept them in good nick by not wearing them to death. And as soon as we got engaged, I boxed them away so that they'd be good on the day.

Don't worry - that's about as sentimental as I get.

Getting over The Fear

The Fear, as I'm sure you've experienced at one point or another, can grip you at any given moment of importance in life. In our case, The Fear arrived just as we were pinning the pattern to the Official Lining.

That's right - no more practice sessions. This was serious business.

We figured cutting the bodice in lining first, to get the fit just right, was the best plan. However mum now refuses to wield the scissors in case

something goes wrong. Eventually we had to have a reality check and remind ourselves that this is, when all is said and done, just a frock. Just a frock. Which is, mum said, exactly what she said to herself when making her own dress (41 years ago last Thursday!).

So with that ringing in my ears I got snipping. We cut out the bodice and skirt lining - with another jolt of The Fear as my mum pointed out we had, rather daftly, forgotten that we've adapted the pattern to put the zip at the back rather than side, so I had to very gingerly cut the skirt back in half. Phew.

After the trauma was over, we pinned it all together (the conversation went much like this: Mum: "So we'll pin it all together first." Me: "Boring! Let's just go for the stitch." Mum: "I'll stitch you in a minute.") and tried it on me for size.

There was a minor issue in the fit at the front, which means instead of the darts on the pattern we have developed a crazy-but-brilliant system of double-darting to make it actually fit to my shape. Also for reasons completely unexplained by the pattern, the back of the bodice came out a good half inch shorter than the front. Those problems sorted, we feel we can have a good run at the proper thing next time (at least in terms of cutting and fitting it... before we get brave enough to stitch it all together).

The other main development is that my mum has bought an overlocker. What is an overlocker, you ask? It is the thing which makes all of the seams and hems all pretty and neat - which, understandably, is somewhat desireable in a wedding dress.

The overlocker, however, is still in its box as we also have The Fear about using it. It's got a combination of knives and needles which is somewhat intimidating, to be honest. What has been removed, however, is the informational DVD which mum made me sit and watch. It shows you how to thread the FOUR (FOUR!) different parts of the machine, how to do a rolled hem (without, eh, showing you what it looks like when finished) and how to attach attractive sweatband-cuff-things to your clothes (unlikely to every be a feature which is used) but, unfortunately, doesn't go in to how not to slice your fingers off with the big fat knife inside.

I'm sure we'll figure it out without disaster. If not, at least it'll make a good story for the speech: "Yes, originally the dress was going to be white, but after The Incident we thought dyeing it would be the best option."

First time in quite some time.

It's been a while, I know, since any update here. I've been away, and mum's been away, and nothing much has been happening of late.

Until this week that is...

On Sunday, we had a little trip around the shops. Originally it was to look at a little red jacket my mum had spotted on one of her online searches. It was, unfortunately, a little disappointing in person.

We swiftly abandoned that plan, but on a trip round the other concessions in Frasers (for it was there) we bumped into another darling number. Short, ivory, with a beautiful little collar to boot and a mix of wool and silk. In short, it is pretty super. And super pretty. So one box was ticked. Phew.

Then today... well today was a big day. We went back to Mandors with one express purpose. It was time to bite the bullet and just get the silk. There was one specific fabric we'd identified on a scouting trip and it is beautiful, ivory, Chinese silk dupion. Seeing in the roll, it looked amazing, but when the sales assistant ("Helen - for the win" on her badge, which is pretty rad) pulled it out to cut, you could start to imagine how it would look when it was made into a dress. The colour, the texture and the shape it holds will be stunning, if we can pull it off.

There is, obviously, a lot less ceremony to buying your (future) wedding dress in a stretch of four metres than it is to try something on and spin in front of a mirror, having found the one. But that doesn't mean you don't feel a tingle as you imagine how it will look.

Fingers crossed.

Anyway, while in Mandors we also found a pattern for the bridesmaids dresses. Now, hold the phone, you may think. This wasn't in the original plan. But sometimes the plan changes for you, without you really having a choice. Also, we think we may be on a kick now. Might as well make it as big a challenge as possible, eh?

Anyway this is the guy. The dresses we had originally pegged (on Dessy) had a bateau neck and

a halter neck, and you'll probably notice that both options are here. In fact the high necked dress

here is virtually the same as the Dessy one. So I'm hoping it will work out well.

Have you met my good friend Maria?

Today we tried The Dress - or the toile of it anyway - for size. Aside from a little length in the bodice, it was pretty damn good.

There's a moment in West Side Story - another of my favourite films - the first scene with Maria. She's in the shop with Anita, who is has made her a dress for her first dance in America.

Maria's not happy whatsoever that it's white and is trying her best to get the neckline lowered - "One little inch; uno poca poca..", to have it died red, anything. Then when the dress slips over her head, she suddenly realises that, in fact, it's the perfect dress for her.

MARIA I hate this dress!

ANITA Then don't wear it and don't

come to the dance.

MARIA [shocked] Don't come!

[Grabs the dress.] Could we not dye it red, at least?

ANITA No, we could not. [She starts to help Maria into

the dress.]

MARIA White is for babies. I will be the only one there

in a white-

ANITA Well???

MARIA Ahhhh-sí! It is a beautiful dress: I love you!

Anyway The Dress reminds me a little something of West Side Story. Not that I protested like Maria when I put it on - I loved it even when it was sitting on Diana still. But the white dress with the red sash, definitely has something of that style to it. 

As mum says, though, we hope to have a happier ending than Maria and Tony.

How did it feel? A little scary. Aside from a few small tweaks, it's just right. I think it was received well by the small audience of my mum, dad and future mother-in-law. Hopefully it will be on the day.

Mum's the word.

We've been away at another wedding (C's cousin actually - beautiful bride in an absolutely stunning dress, and nice times in a haunted mansion) so I've had my eye off the ball, dress speaking. Instead I was forging ahead with a coat for the wedding we were going to which has helped boost the confidence factor a little.

So on the issue of the bodice, I'd been working on putting it out of my mind. Mum then got in touch last week some point highly excited - she had been back to Mandors and found yet another pattern to try (yeah, it's getting a little ridiculous - but if it works, it works).
She then went ahead and made a new version of the old bodice to try in proper silk, and another of the new bodice and brought them up to the flat to show me.

This involved a bit of inventive dancing around in the bathroom as C was in the flat too - he was commanded several times to turn his back on us and under no circumstances to even think about turning round until we said so. I sneaked off to try them. And, lo and behold, the new pattern was the winner.

Although I don't have a pic now, allow me to describe - it's a scoop neck, rather than a v-neck, but still has a v-back. And it's very pretty. So much so that mum has been instructed to keep hold of the test one she made so I can make it into another dress afterwards (it's in a lovely turquoisey colour which will look just great with a little gathered skirt attached).

Now, despite me telling her she didn't have to as it's quite a lot of work (consider the massive length of that hem) mum has finished off the practice dress. So on Saturday I'll get to give it a try. This, hopefully, will be emotional in a good way. Gulp!

It's not as easy as it looks, is it?

Unfortunately things got a bit bleak at the weekend.

There we were, ploughing away, trying our wee practice dress. We cut it out of cotton, cut the lining, everything going swimmingly. Within merely an afternoon, we cut out the whole thing and put the entire bodice together, and the skirt too.

We were feeling pretty proud of ourselves in fact, in the way you only can when you feel like you're steaming ahead. And it seems to be only when you're feeling that way that you suddenly hit a brick wall.

So we had the top and the skirt section ready. The skirt was pretty much perfect for our purposes, and seeing it over the petticoat was quite exciting (even though, because we'd used such thin material for the practice, it meant the skirt turning a peculiar pink colour).

Then I tried to put the top on and we were somewhat deflated. It fits - but it doesn't fit the way it should, you see. There were weird sticky out bits on those beloved princess seams. There were elements puckering and pooking which were simply unacceptable. We were confused - especially given the practice top was exactly the same size as the lining-only practice we'd done.

So. What went wrong? Our theory is that pressing the cheaper cotton we got for the practice whacked it somewhat out of shape. It also seems that the facings of the dress don't quite fit in satisfactorily.

And what the hell are we going to do now? Well after bodice-gate (as it shall henceforth be known) we had a rather long, sometimes calm and sometimes panicked summit where many suggestions were thrown around. For my mum, this was not really helped by the fact that, still wearing the skirt, I was enjoying having a spin around to see it fly out rather than concentrating.

There's some stuff we're considering.

1. Back to the drawing board and look for another pattern

2. Make a practice bodice in the actual silk, to remove the doubt of the cheaper cotton

3. Get rid of the stupid facings (which will require moving the zip to the back of the dress. This would actually, having considered it, be a bonus in terms of easily getting in and out of it).

4. Er...

Anyway mum text me last night saying she had a solution. What it is, I don't yet know... but I'm sure we can work a way around this.

The First Cut

So the time came, this weekend, to give it all a proper try. Yup, deep breath and plunge forth into the deep. The first cut.

Of course, we kinda chickened out of doing it properly. We also realised we neglected to buy any lining for the practice run dress - which was a bit of a silly oversight given we wanted to check out how to do all of it, and get it all perfect. Oopsie. So until the practice lining was brought in, we thought we would have a shot at cutting out the top, and the top of the skirt, in some leftover lining at mum's house and see how it looked - and, more

importantly, if it would fit.

We pinned it all down and had a go. It actually turned out quite well (despite a minor upset in accidentally cutting out a size 16 in the top of the skirt).

The top fit, happily, like a treat, even over my cotton dress - and the v-neck front, it seems, will

hit in exactly the right point (above what my mother would refer to as "too tarty" but below matron-esque standards). Even in weird, leftover black/navy lining, it looked elegant and almost kind of beautiful already. Check out Diana there. She's loving it.

We swiftly, therefore, got quite excited about the whole

thing and now are if not cavalier then certainly less timid about the real thing.

We'll still be doing the practice first though. Just in case.

The One(s)

The Pattern Search continued. Mum kept up a stream of suggestions via phone calls, texts and emails, not to mention internet trawls when we were together.

There were some issues. A nice top half would be joined to a skirt which wasn't quite big enough. A nice big skirt would be pleated in a way which wouldn't sit nicely over a petticoat.

The ones we looked at were almost all in "Vintage" ranges which have often caught my eye over the years. I've three Vintage Vogue patterns already and a few Simplicity as well, in 50s and 60s styles. But none of them were quite right.

In the end we went for a proper compromise. My mum discovered a perfect, perfect circle skirt. The top, though, was all wrong. Fitted bodice, fair enough, but the straps wouldn't be right for me at all.

The Search continued. Then one day, we noticed one which we hadn't seen before or hadn't quite taken note of. It has an open, beautifully shaped v-neck, those most prized shapely princess seams. It sits just on the shoulders.

It's got a lovely, detailed skirt with big panelled pleats slotted in - which, although I'll probably attempt it another time, isn't right for these purposes.

So we're going to Frankenstein it. The wonderful bottom half, circle skirt from pattern number one, and the super-flattering bodice from pattern number two. Then most likely we'll wap a big sash or bow round the middle.

Having had a look at both, we're pretty sure this will work OK. Time will tell, eh?

Oh and if you like them, both patterns are available where we got them - at Jaycotts.

The search for a pattern.

In case you've been wondering (and I'm sure you

have over the Christmas break) the next stage,

in our DIY adventure is - da da! the pattern.

If you've ever made your own clothes, you will heed the importance of this. While I might have very strong ideas how I want this to look, I don't have the technical, pattern cutting skills to go it alone without just a touch of guidance and inspiration.

Luckily, I could spend days pouring over dress patterns so for me this was no hard task. For my beloved, it was slightly less entertaining as he was abandoned to share polite, sport-based small talk with my dad, while me and mum went

giggling to the computer to seek out some designs.

After a bit of searching, we happened upon So Vintage Patterns. If you've never seen it, I demand you click through now. It is dress-making heaven.

What we found there was a very exciting selection of lovely patterns. Having, on occasion, leafed delicately through vintage patterns in shops and market stalls, it's quite fun to have them all laid out on a handy website for you.

And so pretty! Take, for example, the 60s style at the top of the page. I'm loving the bridesmaid dresses, especially the open-pleated one with the bows.

I also love the way they label so many patterns with "So Audrey!" which, as already established, is definitely an aim here.

Then there's this gorgeous, short-sleeved, bows-on-top lovely on the side here (focus, naturally, should be on the bridesmaid dress which is the right length, rather than the bride which, although lovely, is simply far too long). What's extra cute here is that the neckline has a lovely heart shape, but it's still a high neckline. It takes it from little-girl style to quite sophisticated.

The only real problem is that it looks so nice in red, it's hard to imagine in ivory or white.

Another pattern which caught our eyes was this v-necked number at the bottom. This has something much-desired in our quest for the perfect pattern - ultra flattering, shape-defining princess seams. We also loved the v-neck which was open, but not too deep. Sadly, we then had the problem that it's covered in lace.

Now, I love lace, but it's not part of the plan - especially because there's going to be quite a lot more going on with this dress without plonking lace over the top of it as well.

Anyway, as lovely as all the So Vintage patterns are, there's also the small catch that, being vintage patterns, each is available in one size only. Patterns *can* be used as a guidance for bigger or smaller sizes, but probably by someone a bit more talented at doing so than me.

Don't get me wrong, if I saw the right one at the right size, I'd have grabbed it - and I'd definitely recommend the site as a source for any other brides going the DIY route or getting someone to make their dress up.

In the end, we decided to use some of what we'd seen on the site as inspiration - and source a contemporary pattern instead. But So Vintage definitely gets the props for pointing us in the right direction.

If you're interested in any of the patterns above, the links are below.

http://www.sovintagepatterns.com/catalog/item/1657945/7701375.htm

http://www.sovintagepatterns.com/catalog/item/1657945/8384703.htm

http://www.sovintagepatterns.com/catalog/item/1657945/5386597.htm

Inspiration

It's all very well, you may be thinking, wanting to make a dress. But what you need is a vision.

Well, you'd be right. In fact, vision is another reason why I've decided on the DIY(WM) (Do It Yourself (With Mum)) option. There are a huge number of wedding dresses for sale in the world. Unfortunately the vast majority of them are almost exactly the same, give or take a detail here and there. Strapless. Floor length. And, beautiful as they are, these are the two very things which I would never want in a wedding dress.

"Oh" you may cry "but there are plenty of designers who don't just do that". And yes, you'd be right - in fact I'm going to post about some of my very favourites soon. But in reality, I have sat through entire bridal fashion shows and been interested in only one dress out of 90. And it's only been because it was short. Not because it was what I dreamed of.

The thing is, I've never been a fan of floor-length. In fact I can think of only one occasion in my life where I've chosen a floor-length skirt (my sixth year prom) and it just... isn't me. My first thought was of a fifties, prom-dress style look - which you'd understand if you could see my wardrobe. Big skirts are definitely the way.

So when trying to explain this all to my
dearest, and initially horrified mum, I had to come up with some good ammunition and description. My mind, as it often does when trying to think of a simple explanation, went immediately to Grease. The Perfect Prom Dress - Sandy's dress during the dance off. And it's even white. (There will be plenty more Grease references in the future so if you're not a fan... sorry).

But what really swung it in my favour with mum was the Audrey Hepburn pic at the top. From her role in Funny Face, she has, as is customary for Audrey, the perfect look.

The dress we want to make won't be a perfect replica of either of these. But it will take the elements I most adore - the big skirt, the layered petticoats, and the overall sense of elegance - from each.

And if anyone shows up looking like Cha Cha, they'll be shown the door immediately.

Some historical facts to give you some context - aka why I decided to make my own dress

As with many things for little girls, it all comes back to what my mother taught me.

My mum and dad got married in 1970 (originally, I wrote 1969 but - oops - have since been corrected. Some daughter I am). In the wedding photos, she looks like Cher - not 80s, power-ballad, gun-straddlin' Cher, and not scary, immobile-face, do you believe in life after love? Cher - but natural, beautiful, long black hair Sonny-and- Cher.

Her dress was a beautiful, empire-waist, long, long-sheer-sleeved perfectly sixties number. It is perfect on her (once I steal a pic of it to post, you'll see). She used to have it in the house (she threw it out one year in a big clear out. I didn't find out 'til later and am still gutted) and I remember oohing and aahing at it when she first showed me. And you know what? She made it herself - as she never fails to remind me, for £5 out of curtain fabric. You would never guess, looking at it.

Another thing I remember from being young is a very specific sound. It's the sound you get when you cut a piece of fabric with the scissors against a wooden table and it's just about one of the greatest sounds in the world. It reminds me of watching my mum create our Hallowe'en costumes.

We would visit Remnant Kings in Cumbernauld Town Centre - an absolute treasure trove of different materials, stacked in long racks which towered above our heads. I would walk through, eyes wide at the colours and sparkle on display.

Back home, Crruuuuppt went the scissors along the table as she carefully cut along the lines. She would run it through the machine and suddenly out of a bolt of otherwise boring brown fabric you'd have a cloak for Luke Skywalker or Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars being a lasting favourite in our family, my mum found herself making the same costume for my brother when he was six, as when he was 24).

A few years later, she taught me how to do it myself - how to cut a pattern, piece it all together, and stitch it up. Then three years ago she bought me my very own machine and I went nuts.

It can get a bit addictive, this making your own stuff thing. Imagine being guaranteed that your outfit is a one-off and there's no chance that someone else will show up in the same thing. And imagine that your clothes were all measured to fit you, perfectly, and suited to your style and body shape. What more could a girl want on her wedding day?

Anyway I always just kinda assumed that if and when the day came, I would follow in her footsteps and make something of my very own. So that's what I'm going to do - or rather, what we're going to do together.

Of course, we always add as a big caveat, if we mess it up, we'll just go out and buy one.