Having a dress made?

[winternight]

Anyone done this? I finally did some wedding dress shopping and my favorite dress was $4,500 - ouch - I''m thinking that I could get a set of pearls for that money. Anyways I have a beautiful vintage velvet floor length, off the shoulder gown that I wore for my high school prom (the dress is older than me though). I was considering taking it somewhere to have it copied in another color, its red right now. It would also have to be made larger since I''m unforunately not the same size anymore. I have no idea how to find someone good or what something like that might cost. Any ideas?

 

[anacgarcia]

I''m having my dress made, unfortunately I can''t help you a lot since I am from Mexico. The dress I want is $5,000 (pronovias) so I decided to have it made and the guy is charging me $2,500; actually $1,700 is from fabric and the rest ($800) is what he''s charging for his work.

 

[sumbride]

You''re in NYC, right? I''m sure there are tons of dressmakers there! I was going to suggest you ask Nytemist, but I just remembered she lives in Boston. She had hers custom made and it was awesome. I say, if you already have a dress style you adore, it''s worth it to see if you can get it copied!

 

[September8]

Do you really truly want to wear your prom dress style as your wedding gown??

I don''t want to knock your idea, i would just think very seriously about this! Did you go to prom with your fiance or somebody else?

Maybe you can find a gown in a similar style but not the exact same style? Like if its a ballgown and you know you like that style, then find osmething like that. If its a line or whatever , go for that style.

Just some thoughts

 

[robbie3982]

Check out Julius Bridal (www.juliusbridal.com). They''re located in NY, but make their dresses in China and have really great prices (like uner $500 for almost anything you could think of). There''s a whole thread about them on the wedding channel''s dream gowns board. Girls rave about them, but it seems like time tends to be an issue for them. For example they''ll say your dress will be ready in a month and it really takes 3. If you have lots of time though it could be worth checking out.

 

[So_happy]

I had my dress custom made from an ebay seller: chinaekt. I combined my favorite parts from 4 favorite gowns and designed my own with them. The gown was in my home 1 month after contacting them And it''s truly beautiful and exactly what I wanted. I highly recommend them. In addition, they generally cost even less than Julius. Mine cost $228 and that included shipping and a crinoline skirt! It is made of heavy matte satin and has beadwork along the bodice and a pick up skirt with lace up back. (I didn''t get a train because I just didn''t want one so maybe that made my dress less expensive but even with one, you''re talking MAYBE an extra $30 or so) My mom, the critic, LOVES it and was such the voice of negativity before lol.

 

[ImpatientOne]

So happy - can you please provide more info on this eBay seller? I did a search but couldn''t find anything. Thanks!

 

[So_happy]

Impatientone~ I have just learned that they are no longer doing the Ebay thing! They are still on thier website of 1koo dot com but no longer thru ebay. And I just got my dress 2 wks ago or so, so this must have happened very recently. Julius, though, went through the same change and they are well-regarded as well so I presume Chinaekt/1koo is still a great choice.

When emailing them (via ebay) with all of my dress designs and ideas, I did notice they responded to me using the 1koo email address at times so I know they are the same.

I will also say that thru ebay, they had something near 10,000 feedback "points" and a rating of over 99% positive. That''s phenomenal (and what you want when ordering thru good ole ebay).

So, start up some dialogue with them and see how you feel. Keep us posted Congrats!

 

[So_happy]

Here is a picture of me in my dress made by ChinaEkt (I hope it shows up) Please excuse the spotty mirror, me standing on a darn chair, AND me holding my dress in the back so it wouldn''t fall off!!! I still have not had anyone come help me lace it up proper lol. I will soon enough but for now, this''ll have to do

 

[robbie3982]

I just wanted to add that I''ve heard good things about chinaekt as well. There''s a thread about them at wedding channel.com also. I believe it''s called ebay china dresses.

 

[ImpatientOne]

Thanks! I checked out that site and their prices are great! I'm wondering if they consider petite sizes as "custom". if so, I won't have enough time to get one from there. Guess I'll have to email them to see...

Your dress is very pretty!

 

[anacgarcia]

WOW!! your dress is gorgeous!!!!!
ETA: I'm seriously thinking about buying another dress from them for a trash the dress photo shoot..

 

[gail013]

What is a trash the dress photo shoot? I''m sorry, I was married many years ago and I don''t remember that one!

I thought it might be fun to contact one of the designers from Project Runway-Laura or Uli to design a dress! You could have something really amazing. I don''t think I would ask Jeffrey though

I also wonder if the Parsons School of Design would have students that are looking for work. Not that this other dress from EBay isn''t great, it would just be nice if you could find someone local. You also must have access to some amazing vintage gowns.....

 

[gail013]

I just checked out that 1koo site and those prices are pretty amazing. Without the feedback I would have passed by it as it looks too good to be true! I would order a party dress from them .

 

[anacgarcia]

About the trash the dress photos here are some examples..

http://trashthedress.wordpress.com/

 

[gail013]

Thanks Anny, that is great! I would imagine if you live in Mexico, you will have some beautiful places to trash that dress!

 

[So_happy]

Thank you, AnaGarcia I really love it I want to try it on all the time but it''s such a process with the lace-up back. But that was my choice so I woudn''t have to spend the money I saved in getting it custom made on alterations.

 

[So_happy]

Gail~ I don''t know if I posted this here yet, but when I got my dress thru them (ChinaEkt).....only a few short weeks ago while they were still Ebay sellers......I certainly checked out thier ratings and feedbacks. I know it''s unsettling to not have that now that they are "just" on a website. Kudos to Ebay for this perk. But, if it helps, they had approx 10,000 items sold (dresses and other wedding-y stuff) and had a positive rating up and over the 99% rate. That''s truly phenomenol.

They were just great to work with and, clearly, my dress speaks for itself

Happy Planning!

 

[nytemist]

Hey winternight- I''m late to this, but I had mine made for me since i didn''t want a white gown. NYC is leaps and bounds ahead of Boston with the amount of dressmakers, so finding someone who can do exactly what you want shouldn''e be too hard. I just did a citysearch for dressmakers, got a list of about 10 shops called them all and described what I wanted. I found a small shop that said sure, no problem. Although what kept the price down for me was I didn''t say it was for a wedding. I got the dress I wanted for $280. This shop is excellent- they can do a custom order or do a knock-off of a couture gown. When I picked my dress up, they had just finished work on a Jim Hjelm(sp) and you couldn''t tell the difference. Maybe take a road trip and check them out? It''s Roseley''s Boutique in Cambridge. I can get the number if you want it.

You can look at my dress too if you like. mb-imaging.net/carlaianweb

 

[brgirl]

I was amazed by their prices, too! I looked through every single dress, and I noticed is that they have a section that has a lot of Maggie Sottero knock-offs. (Casual dresses - starting on Page 25-27)

 

[gail013]

So Happy-

I meant that I was impressed with the site you mentioned. Their stuff was amazing. I don''t need a wedding dress, but I would definitely order a party dress thru them for myself! If I hadn''t gotten your feedback I probably wouldn''t have checked them out. I thought your dress was beautiful.