Getting Ready Robe & Slip Tutorial

This is my last wedding post where I am going to talk about the getting ready robe and slip I sewed up for my wedding! Since I did my own makeup of course I needed something to wear for the special occasion and since my wedding I have been getting a lot more wear out of it.

First let’s talk about the patterns… I was initially only going to sew a robe, but as soon as I finished it I had enough fabric leftover to make a matching slip. For the slip I had already sewed up the tank version so I knew the size and fit of the pattern (which is #115 BurdaStyle 01/2019). Then for the robe I was going to use an actual “bath robe” pattern, but this kimono pattern (#106 BurdaStyle 04/2019) had been on my sewing to do list for a while and I thought it would work really well for this project. For both pattern I cut and sewed size 38.

As I was embroidering all the eye masks I made as little presents for the girls on my bachelorette trip, I also embroidered a big M on a scrap piece of my Shannon Fabric’s Silky Satin Lime fabric. This was going to be for the pocket on my robe that I wanted to add. I was going to be all basic and embroider BRIDE across the back, but I wanted to wear this robe long after I was just a bride (even though I’m still drinking coffee out of my bride mug, haha). Then I just centered and cut a pocket piece that I have a print off of from another pattern.

Next I grabbed all my Shannon Fabric’s Silky Satin in off-white as well as my printed off pattern. I tiled it together and added seam allowances to my usual size 38.

I cut out my pieces and made sure to notch along the side seam for my belt.

Before I started to actually sew this robe together, I finished the top edge of my embroidered pocket and pinned it on one of my front pieces.

Then I top-stitched it down in place. I don’t know if this is just me, but I love top-stitching down patch pockets.

I stitched my shoulder seams, right sides together and pressed my allowances before I started to pin my sleeve pieces to my robe matching up the sleeve notch to the shoulder seam.

Before I stitched my side / sleeve under seams I serge-finished my edges. Then when pinning together I marked with pins the openings for my belt as well as the end point of the slit.

I pinned from the top of my slit to the bottom of my sleeve hem matching up my underarm points.

Around the slit edges I pressed my allowance to the wrong side (as I was pressing open my seam allowances) and top-stitched in place.

Next I serged the longer edges of my back waist tie casing.

Then on the wrong side of the back I pressed my casing edges to the wrong side and pinned in place matching up the edges to the openings along my side seam. It isn’t really necessary to first serge the edges before pressing to the wrong side, but this fabric frays quite a bit and with all the friction of the belt being pulled through I wanted to keep it neat especially since the fabric is also a bit see-through. From the right side of the robe (since I could see the casing through), I top-stitched only the long upper and lower edges so I could pull the belt through the opening.

I wanted to bring in more green with the belt, so I cut it in the same fabric as my pocket. To finish it I stitched the long edges right sides together leaving the short edges open to pull it through. Then I centered the seam on the wrong side and folded in the short ends to inside the belt and stitched.

Using a large safety pin I pulled through my belt and I’m loving all the green while still being “bridal”. For the front edge and hems, I just serge-finished the edge and pressed to the wrong side and then top-stitched in place.

Wore this robe while I did my own makeup for my wedding and also had one (or two) mimosas to relieve the pre-wedding butterflies.

I actually didn’t plan on making a matching slip, but since I finished my robe so quickly and had all my machines threaded in white with leftover fabric still on my cutting table – I cut my slip out! I love this pattern, and have already made the tank version linked above so I used that already tiled pattern and simply added length to the bottom pieces.

It comes together quite quickly too, I just pleated all my bust pieces, stitched them together with the strap and then sewed to the front lower piece matching up the centers.

After I finished sewing the slip I thought it just needed that extra little something, and I remembered I had previously bought these lingerie bows – so I simply hand stitched at the center front. Love that little bow finish.

I also took this slip and robe along with me to our honeymoon in New York City where I also wore many more “me mades” and did some fabric shopping for future garments. So many great memories.

This is the last wedding post as I think I have covered everything. 2019 was such a great year and I wish I could live it again 🙂 But seriously looking forward to 2020 too.

Happy Sewing!