Custom Made/Designing Your Own Dress?

[Loves Vintage]

After looking at many dresses on-line, I have started to develop an idea of what my ideal dress will look like. I''m sure the idea I have will not exist. I am confident that I can reduce the design to a drawing, although I have not done so yet. The idea has just started taking shape in my mind.

I have a friend, whose mother owns a shop and does alterations, and I believe has made her own clothing. Aside from her, I wouldn''t know where else to start looking for a dressmaker.

Has anyone here had her gown custom made based on her own design?

 

[staceybelle]

I''m having my dress made. I liked the bodice of one dress and the skirt of another, and I found a seamstress who was willing to put them together for me. Like you, I wasn''t sure what I wanted existed exactly the way I wanted it. I''m enjoying having a say in every little detail of the dress and having something no one else will have.

Obviously, I haven''t seen the finished product yet, but from what I''ve experienced so far, I highly recommend it.

 

[HollyS]

Date: 1/16/2008 10:21:34 AM
Author:Loves Vintage
After looking at many dresses on-line, I have started to develop an idea of what my ideal dress will look like. I''m sure the idea I have will not exist. I am confident that I can reduce the design to a drawing, although I have not done so yet. The idea has just started taking shape in my mind.

I have a friend, whose mother owns a shop and does alterations, and I believe has made her own clothing. Aside from her, I wouldn''t know where else to start looking for a dressmaker.

Has anyone here had her gown custom made based on her own design?

I had a wonderful small salon experience in the tiny village where I married. The owner herself always waited on me, and when we were searching, searching, searching for just the right dress, she told me that I could ask for special details or changes in almost any of the mid-price dress lines. Sleeves could be added, fabrics could be changed, detail like beading could be added or removed. For less than $1K I had a dress custom made to my specs, and it turned out beautifully; they changed the fabric to a more expensive silk satin charmeuse and added a beaded net overlay on top of the satin.

The manufacturer does the changes, so you are not paying someone to create a new design or to significantly alter a dress. I think total charges for my changes did not exceed $150.00. Mine was an Eden Bridal dress; and there are other lines like Augusta Jones, Venus, Victoria, Jasmine, that will be willing to make the same type of customizing changes to an existing design.

 

[enbcfsobe]

I originally felt the same way, especially because I absolutely hated everything I saw online and in the magazines. (Hated for me -- lots of things were objectively lovely, but not at all what I wanted to wear.) I have to say that I would suggest going beyond the virtual and starting to try on dresses that have elements of your ideal. You may be surprised to find that you like what you are trying on. You might also be surprised by the opposite reaction -- sometimes what seemed great in 2-D doesn't work nearly as well in 3-D with your own body in the dress. I had a fairly specific vision in mind initially, but ended up picking out something with the same feel, but different elements. You might be still more surprised by how many dresses aren't easily viewable online. I found that the more unusual dresses were not featured on websites, maybe because they wouldn't appeal to a wide variety of brides or didn't have celeb endorsement. What this meant for me is that I got a gown that not that many brides see or pick, so it still has the feeling of being unique to me.
If you do go the custom route, keep in mind that making some clothes or doing alterations is not at all the same as making a gown that will look professional. If would be careful about going with someone who does this 'on the side' -- but I would imagine that working with a serious designer or seamstress could get very pricey. I know there is one boutique here (Philly) that does only custom-designed or house-label dresses. Their price range was one of the things that made me suck it up and start trying on dresses. Whatever you choose, good luck!

 

[HollyS]

Also, Jasmine has what they call "Temple Ready" alterations to gowns -- meaning they will add sleeves and change necklines to meet Temple or Church requirements. I''m not sure, but I don''t think they charge additional for this feature.

 

[Pandora II]

I am doing this.

I decided if I was going to spend a disgusting amount of money on a dress I wanted something totally unique and that was made to fit me properly. I''m tall with very broad shoulders and not particularly curvy (but want a cleavage for once in my life!

)

I spent hours and hours on the internet doing research and bought every book going on tudor design. My degree is in Textiles and Fashion Design, so I have a far idea of the work involved. I then started hunting for a dressmaker.

In the end I found this great girl in London, who did the same degree as me and has worked for some big bridal designers - she''s also an expert in historical corsetry. It has been a fantastic process so far - we spent the first appointment just going over the design until we were both happy.

I had the first toile fitting over Christmas - it looked way better than I ever imagined. I''d also had a thought about a different way of doing the skirt (It''s an underskirt and the the tudor style over skirt split down the front) so that it will hang better and look good when you sit down. She was really enthusiastic about the idea.

It''s nice having someone my own age, who has beautiful sewing skills, is quite happy to say no if something won''t work, is as excited as I am about making the dress, and who isn''t saying I do it this way because I always have. I''ve even lent her a whole load of my books - I feel we have more of a partnership on the project rather than me just paying her to make me a dress.

The price is coming in at $2,400 for her work plus fabric costs (I have a couple of trade accounts so can get silk fabric at wholesale prices.) I''m estimating around $3k for the whole thing.

Wedding dresses are extortionate over here - Alfred Angelo is about $1.5k, a Pronovia is around $4 - $6k on average. If you want real silk fabric (which is a non-negotiable for me) there is very little available anywhere for under $3k. So I reckon $3k for EXACTLY what I want is pretty reasonable.

 

[IWantAMilkshake]

I am, but am having a design copied and changing certain features of it. In an earlier post I posted two dresses that I loved, a San Patrick and a Romona Keveza. I loved the RK more but didn''t want to pay 2x for it. I started getting recommendations everywhere I went for a certain seamstress in town, from totally random and different sources. So I went to check it out, and fell in love with her and her work. Funnily, she had done a similar ruffling on a suit recently and it looked impeccable so I felt very confident. Also, there were a bunch of changes I wanted to do to the gown, like shorten the train, add a row of buttons from top ruffle to bottom ruffle, change the seaming, different fabric etc. The dress, including veil (like the veil in the photo but with a teeny tiny ruffle instead of so big) is 50% of what I would have paid in the salon and it''s being made custom for my body with all of my crazy whims. So far, so good!

I''ll be sure to post pics of the final result! Here is the RK:

http://www.brides.com/fashion/dresses/gallery/wedding_dresses/runway/designer/legendsbyromonakeveza/detail/144627?offset=15&page=2

 

[nytemist]

I had my dress made for me. I saw so many styles of gowns that I did love, but I knew in my heart that I didn''t want to wear white (or ivory, champgne, etc.) So I sketched out the basics of the shape and style I wanted. I wanted really simple, since at my size I can''t pull off lots detail, but still wanted to show curves and cleavage! I also wanted a different color, lilac, though now people are offering colors, but for a price.

Since I had no time to make it myself, I did an internet search for dressmakers in the city and wrote down a list of maybe 10. I called them each and said what I wanted and asked could it be done. I found one that said it was no problem. It was made for $180. I realize that I went way out custom, but it worked well for me and people loved it.

 

[staceybelle]

I suppose I should have mentioned that my dressmaker is charging me $1100 for a dress made of silk satin and alencon lace. I would have paid that for a polyester dress at a chain bridal store by the time alterations were thrown into the mix, so for me it was a no-brainer.

 

[gtn]

You could also find a costume maker do your dress. My friend worked as a seamstress assistant for a show before and she raved about how intricate the costumes were. I don''t know if it would be more expensive or not, but it is definitely something to consider.

After reading what all of these other ladies are saying, I might want to go the same route....