Aug 24

A Wedding Dress Redesigned- For Nicolette

It’s such an honor to work on, what is probably, the most important garment of someone’s life. It’s even more special when someone who you’ve never met trusts you so much to let you cut it into pieces. This is exactly what happened with Nicolette.

Cutting the Wedding Dress

I honestly was a little shocked when she explained her idea and vision. She bought a sample dress from Bridal Boutique by New Name (they are wonderful! You should check them out) and it wasn’t exactly what she wanted, but it had potential. Well half of it did, because I cut off the other half.

Whenever a client tells me they would like to make such a drastic (and irreversible) change to their gown, I choose to tread lightly. It’s not something that can be patched up and repaired after it’s been cut off, so everyone needs to be on board with the decision and confident 100% that it’s what they want. And I’m serious, if I get unsure vibes of even 1%- I’m not cutting!

The safest thing to do was, and is in most cases is, to illustrate the shape of the new neckline on the dress itself so we can determine exactly where the new style lines would go in relation to key landmarks on the body, and Nicolette’s comfort level while staying true to her vision.

Transformation of the Dress

Of course, the changes in the bodice are what mostly jumps out from these pictures. There’s a new satin belt added too. In addition, this bride also needed standard alterations. This included taking in the dress on the sides, adding spaghetti straps, shortening the skirt and adding a bustle.

The Bustle

We played with the style of the bustle for quite a while, but nothing really felt right. So the designer in me always tries to think outside of the box- we bustled the train on the side!

Sewing the Bustle

I know that not everyone who reads this blog sews, but let me break it down for you in simple terms. All fabric has directionality, this is called “grainline” and when the shape of the hip naturally runs along a slope, and as a result on an angle on the fabric, it’s going to want to stretch (sometimes even pucker) if the shape of the hip is not contoured/reinforced properly, or if the fabric is being pulled down due to gravity. Or any other reason, for that matter, like the bustle in this case.

Understanding fabric properties comes in handy when sewing because I’m able to design around what I can predict, with almost full confidence, will happen. So I reinforced that hip seam so it did not stretch and warp out of place when that bustle was hooked up there.