This is the 2nd part of the post following bride Lois’s bespoke wedding dress fittings.
I love this image above of Lois & Ash on their wedding day! The photo is by Matt Brown.
When I started this post, I thought it would be useful to show some of the process involved when having a wedding dress made. We left bride Lois at her 2nd fitting, where it was decided that the toile (calico prototype dress) was looking good and that it was time to cut out her bespoke wedding dress in the real fabric.
3rd Fitting:
The above images are the dress on a stand, and then Lois in the dress at her 3rd fitting.
At this stage the real dress is sewn together but with raw edges in most places. The hem hasn’t been levelled and finished and there are no fastenings at the back, or buttons on the front and sleeves. Everything is raw inside the dress too. These are all things that were checked in the 3rd fitting. It varies depending on the design by the way, sometimes 3rd fittings are still in toile (calico prototype) form. Lois’s dress is fairly simple – the fabric is left to do its thing in its own beautiful way and not much manipulation is involved. More actual fitting work was done at the calico toile stage with Lois’s design.
4th Fitting:
For Lois and her dress, the 4th fitting was her final fit. The dress was basically finished at this stage. There was a tiny amount of hand sewing inside to close some linings I’d left open – just in case she dramatically changed shape just before her final fitting! Her fastenings are in, hem done and all decorative buttons are there. It just needs a check over and press and it’s ready!
If you’ve managed to read this far, I hope this has helped in some way. Having a your wedding dress made can be an exciting experience! Watching your ideas come to fruition and grow organically around you is both interesting and fun! Do get in touch if this is something you’re thinking of doing for your own wedding.
