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The Great British Sewing Bee star Suzy Sankey revealed that she hand-sewed her wedding dress, took about eight weeks to make
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She had a few challenges in making the dress, including figuring out the right bodice design and sewing the skirt just right
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She also sewed eight bridemaids’ dresses, her mother’s dress and flower girl’s dresses for her wedding
The Great British Sewing Bee star Suzy Sankey made sure she had a one-of-a-kind wedding dress.
The 2024 semi-finalist shared with Cosmopolitan UK that she knew from the start of wedding planning with her partner Christian that she wanted to make her own wedding dress to reflect who she was as a person.
“I had originally planned on wearing fuchsia pink as a plain white dress didn’t feel very me, but I ended up finding my wedding dress fabric in a charity shop,” she shared to the outlet, adding that she only got the fabric for only £13.50 ($18).
On Instagram, she noted that the fabric she found ended up being the perfect fit as it incorporated all the things she loved, including her “favorite color, polka dots” and even her “favorite print.”
Suzy Sankey/Instagram
Suzy Sankey
“Anyone who knows me will agree it is 1000000% the perfect fabric and NOTHING else could possibly ever have been right,” she shared alongside a video showing off the dress.
Once she had the perfect fabric, it was time to construct the dress. She managed to complete it in eight weeks, but it didn’t come without its challenges.
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Suzy Sankey/Instagram
Suzy Sankey (left) and husband Christian
Sankey said she tried “tons of different bodice designs” in order to get the shape right for the “drop waist and strapless boned corset” she wanted for the dress. She ended up reaching out to Ralph Pink Patterns for help on how to draft “a corset pattern.”
The next thing to work on was the skirt, which she said she initially thought would turn out “fine,” but ended up being “horrific.” She noted that she eventually made “a new pattern, re-fitting the existing pieces together like a jigsaw,” but ended up making a big mistake.
“I ended up cutting out two left sides rather than a right and left side – the exact same mistake I made on The Great British Sewing Bee,” she recalled to Cosmopolitan UK. “That was the only time I broke down and cried during the stressful eight-week sewing process.”
Luckily, she said she was able to “fix it” just in time for the big day. She proudly showed off the dress on Instagram along with its detailing, which included the bodice and the tulle skirt which ended just short of her ankles. She completed the look with second-hand Stella McCartney Elyse platform shoes and a vintage Jimmy Choo bag.
“I felt the most beautiful I’ve ever felt in my life on my wedding day. I think I’d have felt amazing no matter how it came out, knowing how much effort I put into it,” she said. “I was so proud of myself, and I felt super high fashion, which is what I wanted.”
That wasn’t her only accomplishment, as she also sewed her veil and garter and even “made a second evening dress for myself along with 97 napkins.” On top of that, she sewed together her mom’s dress — which featured a colorful bird print — and then “eight bridesmaids’ dresses “ plus two flower girl outfits — which all featured a polka-dot print.
Suzy Sankey/Instagram
Suzy Sanke
“Believe it or not, I enjoyed every second of sewing,” Sankey said. “It was not easy and I was tired throughout as I was working [my day job] too, but going home in the evening and sitting at my sewing machine is my way of relaxing.”
She added: “My advice for brides wanting to make their own dress or have a custom wedding dress would be to think about how you want to feel wearing your dress… Your wedding dress doesn’t have to be completely different or unique from anything you’ve ever worn, just because it’s your wedding dress.”
Read the original article on People
