Customized Wedding Gown

 

This bride wanted to change her wedding dress to add a blue ombre effect to the skirt and add a few inches to the bodice width. 

Designing the Ombre Look

Finding Fabric

First, we need to start by finding the fabric needed. We measured the full circumference of the dress hem. (~278"). Then the length of the train from the waist to the end of the train (~63"). It took quite a while but we finally found a fabric that had the right texture, sheer but not so sheer that you couldn't see it, the right colors, the ombre going in the right direction on the fabric, and most importantly there was enough available to make the whole skirt! We looked at fabric stores, curtains, sheets... and finally made an amazing find on amazon. 

NICETOWN Navy Blue Ombre Sheer Panels for Indoor Outdoor Wedding Ceremony/Party/Pergola Canopy, 2 Panels, W60 x L216

 

 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08P4KQLPS

 

The bride wanted the darkest part of the ombre at the end of the train so the lightest part of the sheer would be at the waist. This meant the front of the skirt wouldn't be as dark at the hem as the back of the skirt (the train). 

The skirt as a whole was a tube but the front was hemmed to floor length so the bride could walk; therefore, the hem on the front of the dress was a much lighter blue than the hem of the train.

Making A Tube Into A Skirt!

This is an A-line skirt, not a full skirt so the tube needs to be taken in at the waist with darts and seams instead of gathering. The skirt has a circumference of about 280" and the dress waist of about 48". That's a lot of fabric to trim out! The good news is that this ombre layer doesn't have to be perfect because it is going under the top layer of the dress (the top layer is sheer with all of the lace attached to it)! 

The bodice has princess seams, darts, side seams, and a back seam. These are where I made darts in the ombre layer to remove excess fabric. 

All of these numbers are approximate and aren't taking into account seam allowances and ease. This is why I pin/baste everything before cutting!

The Numbers

The front panel of the skirt. 

Front hem circumference ~110". Waist ~25"... amount of fabric needing to be removed ~85". 

Center Front between the princess seams is 8.5". On either side of the princess seams is a pair of darts 3.5" from the princess seam. The side seams are 4.5" out from these darts.

That means there are 6 places at the waistline to line up seams/darts in the skirt and take out the excess fabric. 4 darts and both side seams. I view side seams as 1/2 of a dart - the other half comes out of the back of the skirt).  So I divided the amount I needed to remove (85") by 5 darts (4 actual darts and the side seam half darts combine to be one). I needed to remove about 17" per dart (only 8.5" on the side seams). 

Clear as mud, right?!

The reality is that no one is really looking at this layer. Feel free to play with and tweak it. Spread out the top layer of the skirt, drape your new fabric over it and pin random darts into it if you want to. I wouldn't do too few darts or make them too short or your silhouette won't look very smooth. 

The fuller you want the skirt to be at the waist, the more you can use gathers or pleats instead of deep darts. Feel free to mix and match darts, gathers, pleats... On this dress, I did some pleats at the back waist instead of darts to leave a little extra fullness in the back. 

Before cutting, I pinned and/or basted the darts and seams. I wanted to make sure everything lay smoothly when removing so much fabric.

Seam Finishing Tip:

This ombre synthetic fabric frayed easily. Rather than doing narrow hems or serging yards and yards of raw edges, I burned them! I practiced using scraps a LOT because it was terrifying but once I felt confident, it went quickly! 

• make sure to remove any little strings/threads hanging from the edge (they act as wicks and cause bigger burns)
• use a candle rather than a lighter - you don't have to struggle to hold the lighter and keep it lit.
• have a system to move the fabric past the candle quickly and steadily. I attached each end of my fabric to a hangar suspended like a hammock and ran the candle along the fabric edge instead of the fabric edge along the candle.

Adding Inches

This bride needed a few inches added to the width of the bodice. I let all of the seams out as much as possible but still needed a few more inches across the back. Many brides switch to a corset-style back but this bride wanted to keep the sheer and the button detail.

I cut away the original tulle along the lace edges and replaced it with new (using the original as a template). I extended the bottom edge of the tulle to V downward to fill in the lower back area where the zipper wouldn't zip any higher. (I had the bride switch to a bra with a lower cut back). I then stitched the lace and button tape onto the new back.

During a fitting, ALWAYS have the client wear the shoes and undergarments that the client will be wearing on the big day. 

HEMMING TIPS:

1. When hemming a dress, it helps to have the client look in a full-length mirror so they can see what you're doing without looking down. Looking down drops the hem lower to the floor and when the client straightens back up the dress is too short! Direct the client to look straight ahead with arms hanging loosely at the sides. 
2. When working on a dress with a train, always shorten the front of the dress an inch or two shorter than it seems it should be, especially if the bride is not wearing a petticoat. Otherwise, when the bride walks, the dragging train pulls the front of the dress toward the body, which makes the hem lower and causes it to roll under. The bride is more likely to step on the dress and stumble walking up the aisle!

TIP: To help convince the bride to let you shorten it, fluff out the train and have the bride walk forward about 10 steps (preferably while looking toward a mirror that shows the feet). The bride will see the issue. 

This hem is too long in front!