Visiting Experts

As a dressmaker I read with great interest the recent blog post entitled ‘Your perfect Wedding dress-dressmakers are the ideal solution’.

I have made wedding dresses and I’d like to use this opportunity to offer some advice for any budding wedding dress dressmakers thinking of going into the wedding dress business.

If you are a dressmaker and someone approaches you with the proposition to make them a wedding dress, it is absolutely essential that you are clear about how the process is going to work. In my experience (if you are new to the process or if you are a little naïve, like I was!) it can go from an easy-going relationship to a high-stress situation in a matter of weeks. My top tips for making it all go smoothly from day one.

Dressmakers, make sure you have enough time to do the job! If the customer is not a dressmaker it all may seem quite straightforward and easy to them for you to produce a dress from scratch. This can leave you feeling unappreciated and worse, working until 3am for days on end.

Brides to be, bring some pictures of dresses you like. It doesn’t have to be the EXACT dress you want but if it has a lovely train or a really pretty neckline these are all things that will help your dressmaker to build up a picture of what it is you want.

Dressmakers, produce a really good detailed drawing for your customer. A picture says a thousand words and if you can pin the design down as far as humanly possible on paper there will be less cause for disagreements later.

Dressmakers, make a toile or even several toiles (this is a mock up of the dress in cotton)! This is the point where your bride may decide that it isn’t exactly as she wanted and this is ok. Far better to thrash it out over a cotton toile than be wasting yards of very expensive silk.

Brides to be, please understand that your dressmaker will always do his or her very best for you but ringing her up at 9pm to discuss ‘a small change to the design’ two days before the big day will not put him or her in the best mood!

Brides to be must be prepared to try it on quite a few times before it’s finished. In my experience brides are often dieting before the big day or the stress of worrying about the day can result in weight loss. Please tell your dressmaker if you are on diet as this can have a fairly big impact on your fittings and can cause quite a bit of stress to your dressmaker!

Finally, brides to be, please understand that your dressmaker is completely on your side. If you are hoping for a particular style and your dressmaker suggests an alternative, try to take on board their advice. A good dressmaker is considering things on lots of levels: Is the style fashionable? Will the style suit the figure of the bride? Is the style within budget? Does the style reflect the bride’s personality?

I feel sure that most dressmakers and brides to be are in perfect harmony when to comes to making and designing a beautiful wedding dress but it doesn’t hurt to take these points into consideration whichever side of the fence you happen to be on!

Emma Barrett is a freelance designer based in London who is the owner of Emma Barrett Designs. Emma has been making clothes, jewellery and accessories for many years. Emma is an extremely versatile designer who specialises in bespoke designer items, fabric designs, dressmaking and is even going to be a qualified tiler by mid 2011.

Here is a little more about our friend Emma

Emma Barrett makes handmade crafts such as jewellery, cushions, bunting and in addition designs original fabrics. Emma Barrett Designs is a small company specialising in handmade, designer items that are only made once, ensuring that each and every piece made by Emma Barrett is completely unique.(We at Thai Silk Magic can really relate to this as all our products are also unique and original)

Over to you now

What funny experiences/stress/crazy things did you have at your wedding (or before). Did you have worries about how your wedding dress would be on your special day? Please share your thoughts, experiences (funny or sad) and advice you may have for other brides-to-be about to start on their search for their wedding gown. We appreciate your comments and so do our readers so tell us what you think and feel about this, at times, emotional topic.

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