Finally completed a project! A friend wanted alterations on her wedding dress for her June 27th wedding. She brought the dress over the end of January and we got to work.
The first order of business was to shorten the opaque under layer. To begin, the skirt was pinned with “satin” pins. They don’t leave huge, permanent holes in the fabric.
Once it was pinned into place, a lap around of basting stitches were made. This made it possible to see where the new hem was at and double check the measurements all the way around. It also exposed the tulle under petticoat, so it could also be shortened.
This left the slip layer, another opaque layer, exposed and ready to be shortened.
Once all the the under layers were shortened and the top layers were put back down, it was really noticeable how much everything had been shortened. It is a pretty effect, I think.
The dress had been shortened from a tea length dress to just below the knees. Another change that the Bride wanted was the hem to be higher in the front than the back. Getting the sides to mirror each other was accomplished by cutting the first one, tracing the curve onto freezer paper and using that to mark the other side.
The bride brought a very lovely rose gold colored, rhinestone belt to be added to the dress. She decided to remove the satin ribbons and have it attached directly to the waistband. The button hole stitch was used to completely cover the metal rings where the ribbon used to be.
Then COVID-19 struck. No visiting. No fittings. No further alterations. For Months! time was getting short.
Finally restrictions eased up a little and the bride came back over, fully masked, to make final alterations. The two layer veil was cut to the length desired. After seeing the shear dress hem from the back, it was decided that it needed to be shortened a little. While still having the high/low hem.
Having cut out many of the lace appliques, I asked the Bride to place them where she wanted them on the veil. She did an awesome job. I would not have thought about changing the direction of the lace. It totally worked!
There were so many left over lace appliques. The Bride asked if I would mind adding some to the little blue sweater that we would wear at the reception (if she was chilly). Heck yah!
Of course, I forgot to get any pics of the finished outfit.
She picked it up the Wednesday before her wedding. She was beautiful in the fittings. She must have been stunning for her wedding.
Thank you SL (formerly ST) for giving me the honor to work on your dress!!
Aw what a lovely thing to be asked to do! It turned out so beautiful, I bet the bride was chuffed to bits.