Advance 8394 – WeSewRetro.com

My Vintage-Inspired Wedding Dress

By MelissaO on July 16, 2015

Hi guys! I just wanted to share my vintage-inspired wedding dress with you today! I’ve been working on this dress in one way or another for over a year and I’m so excited to finally share it!

I posted about my search for the right pattern here and you We Sew Retro members helped me out so much! A lady traced her pattern and sent it to me so I could make my dress. I could not have done it without the kindness and generosity of the online sewing community and I am so grateful.

(photos by Plum Jam Photography)

The dress is made from silk shantung with a silk organza underlining and China silk lining. I started with the bodice from Advance 8394, graded it up, changed the shape of the neckline, and made the sleeves set-in instead of dolman. I used the circle skirt from Butterick 5748.

Here’s my inspiration dress and the pattern I used:

More info and pictures here on my blog, Mint Green Sewing Machine!

-Melissa

17 Comments

Vintage Sewing

Can You Help Me Find a Pattern For my Wedding Dress?

By MelissaO on July 14, 2014

Hello retro sewists! I haven’t posted in awhile, but I’m here today to ask you for some help. I’m getting married next year and I’ve decided to make my own dress. I found a gorgeous vintage dress online that I would like to re-create, but I’m having trouble locating a pattern (I don’t really know how to draft my own, so I want something to go off of). Below is a picture of the dress I would like to re-create (in my size), from Dear Golden Vintage:

(Source: Dear Golden Vintage)

I think that this pink dress below, also from Dear Golden Vintage, might have been made from the same pattern, which makes me think it may have been sewn from a commercial pattern, rather than being custom-made.

(Source: Dear Golden Vintage)

I looked through many patterns on the Vintage Patterns Wiki and online, but none seemed to be quite right, but then I stumbled upon and image of this pattern, Advance 8394. It seems like the closest approximation so far, despite the skirt being completely different.

(Source: Vintage Patterns Wiki)

The trouble is, there are no copies currently for sale online that I can see, so I was wondering if anyone has a copy of Advance 8394 that I could buy, borrow, or rent. I would pay the shipping both ways if I could just borrow one to trace off. Any size is fine!

Or, alternatively does anyone have the actual pattern for the two dresses that I can’t find? That would be pretty amazing!

If I can’t find the pattern, I’ll go ahead and try my hand at drafting one, but I thought it was worth a shot to see if I could locate a pattern first.I also posted about my search here on my blog, Mint Green Sewing Machine.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me! I’m so glad I can tap into this amazing online community!

Happy Sewing!

-Melissa

19 Comments