When you reach a certain age the wedding invites start rolling in, which is rather exciting for a sewing fan like me – just think of all the pretty dresses to be made! Sewing your own wedding outfit ensures you definitely won’t be in the same dress as anyone else, but it brings with it another problem: choice, choice and more choice. Should I go smart and sophisticated with a plain, block colour, or perhaps cutesy and sweet with a classic summer floral? As with all sewing endeavors, the options are endless, and thus I spent hours and hours browsing fabrics and patterns online for the summer wedding I was invited to this year.

I needed a fabric that would keep me cool during the celebrations, and decided I wanted a print that was at once classic and contemporary. In the end I chose a light faux-linen fabric in a modern floral print from good-old Fabric Land – a bargain at only £4.99 per metre. As luck would have it, I’d just received my copy of Tilly’s fabulous Love at First Stitch – the stylish Megan dress is ideal for such a smart occasion.

The Megan dress was a dream to sew and I didn’t have to make any alterations to the pattern – apart from, as always, to shorten the length. I’ve not sewn many sleeves so I was dreading that part, but Tilly’s clear instructions made it super easy. In fact, the trickiest part was inserting the zip, but that was down to me rather than the pattern. I learnt two important lessons here folks. Firstly, don’t buy cheap zips. Secondly, don’t buy cheap sewing machine feet. I unfortunately did both, which resulted in much unpicking and lots of cursing.

The first zip I bought broke in half after I had attached one side, and I didn’t have much luck with my second attempt with a new zip either – one of the grooves in my cheap, ebay-bought invisible zip foot wasn’t wide enough, which meant my stitches were too close to the zip teeth (despite ironing them flat first) and the zip wouldn’t close. After finally figuring out, two further attempts later, that the other groove on the machine foot was wider and worked fine, the zip was finally in (just two days before the wedding I might add!).

I don’t think I’ve made anything that has fit me as well as this dress (a little too well, perhaps – I must admit I was feeling a little uncomfortable after a three-course meal and a few glasses of fizz). I’ll definitely be wearing this again – for this wedding I paired it with baby-pink shoes from Primark and a vintage silver beaded bag, but I could easily wear it with a black jacket and heels for an autumn/winter wedding.

What will you be making from Tilly’s lovely book? I think I’m going to give the Mimi blouse a go next – watch this space!

Primark Shoes & Vintage Bag