Your Wedding Dress- Dream or Disaster?

I do alterations- lots and lots of them, especially at this time of year. Most of the alterations I do are on formals for proms and weddings. Some dresses just need a tuck here and there or a quick hem. Others need major work that could have been averted by educated shopping. As someone who spends much of her time fixing problems, I would like to offer some suggestions before you head out to the local “Bridal Walmart.”.

-Style. Just because something is stylish doesn’t mean it will look good on you, even if you have a great figure. If you have an uncommon figure type a mass produced wedding dress might not work for you at all.

-Choose the shop with care. Everyone has a reputation, either good or bad. Look into shop policies and sales techniques. Educate yourself before you start looking at dresses. Some of the smaller shops have a surprisingly nice inventory of carefully curated gowns. They aren’t necessarily more expensive than a chain, and the service is often better.

-Does it come in your size? A sales clerk tried to convince my size 0 niece that they could easily cut a size 6 dress down to fit her. Fortunately her mother knew enough about garment construction to see that would be impossible in her case.

-How is the dress constructed- will alterations be easy or extremely difficult? If you find yourself in love with a dress that will need alterations no matter what size you buy, look into this before you sign on the dotted line. Come back with a friend or professional who knows enough about alterations to figure this out by looking inside the dress. Some shops push women to buy a dress a size larger than the one they tried on. I recently altered one of these dresses. The size 2 bride who tried on a size 2 dress that fit perfectly was pushed into ordering a size 4 dress. When it arrived it was (no surprise) too big. That was when she learned it would cost her $150 for alterations- not counting the bustle on the train. She left, furious, and was directed to me by a relative. When I looked inside the gown, I saw that it had been made to be altered both up and down. Even if she had gained 20 lbs the size 2 would have worked just fine. Sometimes the opposite is true, though.

-Hemline details. Does the dress have hemline details or embroidery that you love? Will you lose those details if the dress needs to be hemmed? A young woman I knew bought a dress just for the embroidery designs around the hem. She is 5’ tall, and the dress was designed for a person 5’ 11”. The only way to raise the hem on this dress was from the bottom, but no one at the shop mentioned that to her, and her purchase was not refundable. In the end she wore the highest heels she could walk in and I built her a Cinderella style petticoat that lifted her skirt up and out. We still lost about an inch of the embroidery.

-Don’t buy under pressure. If you have any doubts, make a note of the model number of the dress and think it over. If you are ordering a dress, a day or two won’t make any difference.

-Ask questions about in shop alterations. Ask who will pin up the alterations and what experience and training she has in this area. Most alterations are pinned by sales clerks who have never sewn a stitch in their lives, not by the seamstress who will do the work. I have repinned and repaired some of these. Very few shops have someone on the premises to do the actual work. It is generally sent out to area seamstresses. Check with a local seamstress to see what she would charge you.

-Many shops have marked down or discontinued models. This means you buy straight off the rack. If you are an easy to fit size, you might be able to save a lot of money this way.

If you are not satisfied with your bridal shop experience or want to avoid it entirely, there are other options.

-Direct order from China. Do this only with the greatest care and plenty of research. There are lots of horror stories out there. I do know two people who bough their wedding dresses this way and were very satisfied. I know this is controversial, but nearly all mass produced wedding dresses are already made in China and ordered from there by the dress companies.

-Check out formal garments at department stores and online outlets. The prices and selections are often better, as are return policies.

-Go Vintage. Wear your grandmother’s dress, or shop thrift stores, Craigslist, Ebay, and Etsy sellers. There are a lot of beautiful gowns out there that have only been worn once.

-Get a vintage dress “remodeled” and updated to suit you.

-Have your dress custom made. This will not cost less, but if you are hard to fit or want something unique it is the best option.

Happy Shopping, and I hope you find the perfect dress.

The Celtic Shrug

Every now and then I make something that I really love. The Celtic Shrug is one of those pieces. The idea grew out of a black shrug in a similar style that I made for a friend. Both shrugs were made of high quality pleather, and both featured specially made lace embroidery that I created with my embroidery machine. That is where the similarity ends. The brown shrug was destined to be the Celtic Shrug from day one. In my mind, I could already see the rich brown pleated taffeta on the ends of the lace sleeves.

I knew what color threads I wanted to use for the Celtic knot on the back. The hardest part was locating some really nice brown taffeta for the pleats and lining.

I started by making the embroidery on a piece of netting.

Once I cut out the shrug pieces, I sewed the embroidery to the center back, and cut out the pleather behind it ever so carefully. 

I added an inner layer of netting for stability. Once it was all assembled, I cut a hole in the lining behind the embroidery and turned under the edges. 

The sleeves are my favorite part, I think. Or then again, maybe it's the back. The shrug lasted one whole hour in my Etsy Shop and seems to have found a happy home.  J

An Heirloom Christening Gown for Eleanor

The phone rang. The conversation started like this:

“Could you make me a christening gown? My first granddaughter is getting christened. We want something that we can hand down as a family heirloom.” 

She also wanted a bonnet to go with the dress. It has been a couple years since I did any heirloom sewing. I love doing it, so even though my schedule was packed I agreed to take on the project. She sent me a picture of a style they liked, then we chose fabric- the traditional batiste- and I went to work.

First I made a zillion pintucks.

Next, I made the dress parts- bodice, skirt and sleeves. The components were embellished with white on white heirloom style machine embroidery. In addition to lots of tiny pintucks, I did some eyelet work, folded tucks, lines, and floral vine stitches.

Here's a close up of the finished bodice.

I added a pleated flounce to the bottom of the skirt- I like the way it turned out.

Next came the bonnet. I adapted an old pattern I have used many times, and covered it with pin tucks and embroidery. 

The bonnet brim is trimmed with lace and silk ribbon roses.

The project is done, and Eleanor's grandmother is happy. 

So am I.