Self Drafted Dress made with FS Cotton Faille in White

I proposed to my boyfriend. It wasn’t a leap year, he just deserved it. Nine months later, he proposed back with candles in my sewing room, kneeling next to my ironing board and pausing only when I leant to turn the iron off.

But then we bought a house, we started drawing up plans for some renovations, I left my full-time corporate job and almost without talking about it, the wedding got put on hold. He’s Greek. When you do a wedding…well, I think you know the idea. It’s not for the faint of heart. In fact, we just went to one in September that had 2,000 invitees.

Self Drafted Dress made with FS Cotton Faille in White

On hold or not, I got the bridal bug. I started sewing white dresses, thinking, well, this could be a reception dress or perhaps for a hen do. It wasn’t just dresses. Someone else said I looked like I was in my ‘cult phase’ as I rocked up to dinner in a pair of cream Persephone Pants and a white poplin Harrison top. I was obsessed with white fabric. That’s what drew me to Fabric Store’s white cotton faille, I had more cult/bridalwear to make.

For my second ‘colouring outside the lines’ project I wanted to create a pattern from scratch, to design something, follow my heart and my Pinterest inspiration board instead of dutifully knocking out someone else’s pattern. It didn’t hurt that the fabric felt like the ideal ‘it’ll be great for a wedding’ fabric, with enough body and structure to hold its own, but light in a way that means I wouldn’t hate my life in the Greek island heat. There’s a little texture too, enough to give it some attitude.

Self Drafted Dress made with FS Cotton Faille in White

That being said, I’m still the same anxious person I was for the last project so I drafted in my sewing tutor to help — a present from my one-day husband (you see why I proposed?). We sat at the kitchen table and sketched out some ideas. We talked about a back so low it gave swimsuit vibes, a skirt that had a subtle bubble structure to elongate the legs and give me enough room to dance. We thought about thinner than normal straps, a princess seam bodice with a slightly rounded square neckline for a contrastingly sleek top half. It was inspired by many things I’d seen and loved, but not a copy. This felt like creativity.

We (mostly, she) created the pattern from my pattern block and we cut out a toile in calico. It was short and the bodice was a little loose. We went again, adjusting the skirt and the bodice, lowering the neckline. Each tiny tweak got me closer to the dress I’d had in my mind.

Self Drafted Dress made with FS Cotton Faille in White

Sewing using the cotton faille is foolproof. It’s so easy to sew with and it doesn’t fray when you get it wrong and have to unpick (which I did quite a few times, those skirt pieces all look the same but they’re really not). I added lightweight interfacing to the bodice and something a tiny bit heavier to the skirt and found some cotton poplin for the lining. I then proceeded to mess up attaching the lining to the dress, repeatedly. I could not figure out how I kept making a balloon with no obvious way in, instead of a lined dress. I was on my own by this point and I confess, I was quite stressed. But this fabric hides all manner of sins, you’d never guess that I was practically ripping apart seams on the last few goes.

Self Drafted Dress made with FS Cotton Faille in White

I should have stopped and left it behind, but I imagined taking photos against the blue of Sifnos or Kimolos and I’m so glad I did. The insta husband took these shots at our Airbnb and after, when we sat down to take a look, the first thing he said was: “Wow, you look like a bride.”

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