Jarnagin's Jargon: Bridesmaid Dress Mommy Made

I always knew my mother was good at sewing, but I never realized just how amazing she really was. She always made all of my sister and my halloween costumes and special little dresses, jumpers and blouses when we were kids, but I had no idea she would do such an stellar job on sewing all four dresses for my bridesmaids to wear!

We had a little fiasco with ordering some dresses online and them arriving with fabric that was completely see-through. Those were promptly returned. I didn't want to go with David's Bridal (I was opposed to it for some reason and in hindsite it probably would have been the easiest route) and going to a local dress shop was too pricey and I didn't want to have to make my friends buy 200 dollar dresses. So I asked my mom, "Should I hire a seamstress?" We looked at a few on ETSY and I did love what they were doing but my mom said, "I can do that, it's easy!".

In the long run I don't think it ended up being "easy" for her but she seemed to enjoy the challenge and the process of making them and creating something that is going to be so prominent at the wedding.

We picked out the pattern - a sun dress pattern we found from Simplicity Patterns. Then we took one of the groomsman's french blue shirts to a silk fabric store in Carboro, NC and picked out a fabric that matched the guys shirts perfectly. Pretty lucky that we found the exact match!

Mother dearest has been working diligently on these dresses for a few months now and she finally had the last fitting with the girls last weekend! And they all fit really well! Whew ... and although we hit a few snags it all worked out perfectly!

If I had to do it all again I would probably just pick a color swatch and tell the girls to just find a dress in that color. That way they could then find whatever they liked/felt comfortable in and also at the price they wanted to spend. Picking a color like navy or black probably would have made it a lot easier too.

But I picked french blue with yellow accents and that is what I love about the dresses and I'm so glad it all worked out. The girls are going to look beautiful! (And the guys will look handsome too - don't want to leave them out! Men's Warehouse had some great deals.)