Wedding Gown Alterations

Wedding Gown Alterations

One of the first articles I wrote for anewscafe.com was about “Do It Yourself” wedding dress alterations. I wrote it in 2008, and every once in a while, I go through the archives to remind myself what I have written so I don’t repeat myself. (Yes, I’m THAT age.) Anyway, I still get questions from that article. I apologize for not answering them in a timely fashion, and I‘m always amazed that people are still reading my articles four years later!

I also get phone calls and emails from people who’ve read the article and have questions on specific problems. I got two of those calls just recently, both (coincidentally) from Washington state.

They were good questions and I figure if one person wants to know, there are probably others who are pondering the same problem, so I will attempt to answer the questions in this forum.

One question was about “blending” the neckline of a strapless gown when you take in the sides.

A strapless gown slants from front to back at the neckline (see photo). This means that when you take in the side seams, the back won’t match up with the front. The back is lower. The more you take in the dress, the lower the back will be. There are several ways to deal with this dilemma.

“Blending” or “truing” means to redraw the neckline seam, creating a smooth transition from front to back. When you stitch the layers of the neckline back together, you would start the seam at about the front dart and lower it until it meets the back panels at the side seams. If there is enough seam allowance, you can raise the seam line slightly as you meet the back panel. This method slightly reshapes the neckline and it works just fine if you are only taking in the seams from ½ to ¾ inch.

If you are taking in the sides more than an inch, you will have more discrepancy between the back and the front. In this case, you may not want to blend the seam because it can look too drastic.

You may want to consider taking the dress in on another seam, the center back, for instance. This would require removing the zipper, possibly buttons and loops, so examine the construction carefully before you decide to go this route. Also, pull the dress back at the zipper and make sure the rest of the dress looks good. The reason we usually do alterations on the side seams is that we want to keep the same balance back to front. It can look funny to have the side seam pulled back too far.

Another solution is to add some form of “dart” to the front side of the bodice. If the dress has ruching, you can “ruche” it or gather it more.

If a traditional dart will work with the design of the dress, it’s best to fit it directly to the bride. Do this before you take in the side seams.

At the first fitting, pin the side seams so that you have an idea of how much to take in. Take apart all the layers at the neckline. Pinch out the amount of the alteration and measure the discrepancy between the front and back. Then unstitch the side seams and have another fitting with the front and back “hanging loose.” You may want to baste the layers to each other for ease of handling. Pin the sides together at the neckline. Now fit your dart, keeping in mind how much you will need to pinch out in order to fit into the back bodice. Then pin your side seams again.