Sunday, December 21, 2008

"DIY" Wedding Dress

There are so many dresses available in stores and in online boutiques, but when a bride needs to make her choice; she realizes that none of them are perfect. She may like the shape of one dress, fabric of another and embroidery from a third. Or, she may find the dream dress. However, the price of the dress breaks the budget. Let us not also forget that the selection of wedding dresses available in plus-sizes or petite sizes is narrow.

When wedding dress supply is limited in variety, creating your own wedding dress is a great option. Most brides always have a picture in their mind of the dream bridal gown. There are so many ideas and places to be inspired - fresh trends, fashion shows, designer news, glamour magazines, vintage and antique images, etc. Get inspired! Create your own wedding dress and nothing will limit your options anymore!

Chiffon and lace are the most reasonable fabrics for the DIY (do it yourself) project. Chiffon allows for creativity: ruffles and floating trains, scooped neck designs, multilayer, Swarovski crystals, embroidery on the bodice and on the sleeves. Soft silk chiffon is good on the body and is comfortable for wearing. The Chiffon wedding dress is the best for brides, as it is very simple, yet has great elegance.

When stitching a chiffon bridal gown, many manufactures put a layer of tissue paper in between the two pieces of chiffon being sewn together. Tissue paper is used to allow the chiffon to remain intact and stay in place. After sewing, the tissue paper can be carefully ripped out. The general rule when working with chiffon material is that the work should be done slowly and steadily, and not to run it through a sewing machine too quickly so that it bunches and gathers.
Of course nothing restricts a bride`s castle in the sky, when she creates the design of her wedding dress. However, there are several basic rules she should follow, which may help to shape the dress better.
1. The A-line silhouette elongates and slims the figure.
2. Ball gowns are perfect on strapping brides or better should be worn with high heels and a small platform (for extra convenience).
3. Column dresses makes brides with wide shoulders and backs more feminine.

Restoration of an existing wedding dress is also interesting idea for the creative bride. If a vintage or antique dress is available and has really interesting and expensive fabric and elements, it is a prospect for dress restoration. The bride can do it by herself. However, it is better to send the dress to professionals. Restoration of antique dresses requires special skills and supplies. During restoration, old fabric gets supported by a layer of new thin and strong silk, which is laid under the original fabric. Sometimes use of silk to line a weak antique structure is the only way to save the unique cloth.

Some people have extraordinary taste. They may not like traditional weddings. Such brides may be great performers and want to have a show instead of a wedding. Halloween-style weddings or weddings like Cirque du Soleil will need special dresses. In that case, brides can create their own unique dresses, gowns which never will be repeated.

1 comment:

jenifer said...

Excellent post..! Creating our own wedding dress is really a great idea. I will certainly try it and get back to you.