When a bride comes to Inspired by the Dress for a custom-made wedding gown, she gets more than a gown—she gets a piece individually designed to mirror her inspiration, beauty, style, shape, size, and personality. She gets a one-of-a-kind couture gown, handcrafted beautifully inside and out.
Custom made dresses comes together in eight steps:
- The inspiration: A picture, sketch or idea
- Selecting fabrics
- Taking personal measurements
- Drafting the pattern
- Designing a mockup
- Cutting and sewing fashion fabric
- Perfecting the fit
- Inspiration meets creation: The beautiful, finished dress
1. The Inspiration
Many brides seeking a custom-made dress come with a picture or a sketch of the type of dress they want. Some have searched through every bridal store rack but haven’t been able to find their dream wedding dress. They may not know exactly what they want, but they have an idea of some of the features they’d like. This is when they come in for their inspiration to meet creation.
2. Selecting Fabrics
Once the bride has discussed her inspiration for her custom-made dress, she selects the fabric that will be used for the gown. The fabric types vary depending on the bride’s vision for the dress. The design inspiration paired with the perfect fabric selection is when the magical journey begins.
3. Taking Personal Measurements
The bride is measured extensively for her custom-made bridal gown, which will provide for a flawless fit throughout. Patience is key here. It’s much more than just a quick bust and waist measurement—can’t rush perfection!
4. Drafting the Pattern
Once measurements have been taken, a pattern for the dress is drafted. This allows the bride and designer to work together to bring the bride’s inspiration from her heart to the designer’s hands.
5. Designing a mock-up
Using the pattern, a muslin (mock-up) is crafted for the bride to try on to see the features of the dress before the designer moves forward with cutting the pattern. The mock-up serves as just that—a working sample. (The material used for the mock-up isn’t used for the dress itself.)
6. Cutting and sewing fashion fabric
This is where it gets fun! With this step, the bride really gets to see her dress come together. The fabric she carefully selected is intricately crafted to assemble her gorgeous, one-of-a-kind gown. The bride must keep in mind during the designing/cutting/sewing phase that she may end up deviating a bit from her initial vision for the dress. That’s the wonderful thing about having it custom made—the dress evolves as her inspiration evolves.
7. Perfecting the fit
Once the dress has been assembled, the bride tries it on and alterations are made as needed. There may be multiple fittings, especially if the bride plans on losing weight. She should let her designer know upfront if she wants to lose weight. They can then draft the pattern to allow for weight loss.
8. Inspiration meets creation
There it is! The bride has her beautiful, finished dress. It is stunning and impeccably-fitting. Little does the bride know how many oohs and aahs she is going to get when she walks down the aisle!