Pregnancy and Dresses

 

When it comes to fitting any dress, we are doing this on the body you are at that time.  We cannot guess how a dress will fit when the wearer is at various stages of pregnancy. If there is no option but to wear the dress you bought pre pregnancy, you will need to be flexible with what can be done. This may mean compromising the design of the dress.

 

Here are some things that can be done but these fixes may only work for some bodies and for some dresses and at different stages of pregnancy. These fixes also apply to bridesmaid’s dresses.

 

Letting out.

We can only let out if the manufacturer has left enough in the seam allowances. It’s not always possible to let out chiffon, georgette, and tulle as they may have been sewn with French seams which leaves hardly any fabric for us to use. Sometimes there may be fabric in the zip seam which we can let out. Having a dress let out might be all you need in the early stages of pregnancy.

 

Adding a corset back.

If you have a dress with a zip back, you may be able to have a corset back put in.  This will give you flexibility as your body changes. The fabrics we use must be a perfect match otherwise it will look like it has been added in.  For bridal we have stock of fabrics or if needed we can source fabric to match.

 

Bridesmaid dresses can be a problem with colour matching as manufacturers often have fabrics specially dyed for them.  For a perfect match buy a spare bridesmaids dress and we can use the fabric from that.

 

Raising the waist 

This is a more complex reworking of the dress.  We will be separating the skirt from the bodice and positioning the skirt above the bump.  This will only work on certain dresses.  On the dresses that it can work on we sometimes have to replace the skirt linings if they are too narrow.  It also only works if there is enough length in the skirt to raise the skirt, otherwise you will have a dress not touching the floor.

 

Adding Panels

Sometimes we may be able to add panels to the dress. The fabrics must be an exact match for a good finish.  

 

Our normal lead time for alterations won’t work with a growing bump but we do need time to do the work.  Before booking you MUST

 

• Contact Shay with pics of you in the dress front and back and how many weeks you are in those pics.

• Tell us how many wks. pregnant you will be on the wedding date

 

We can then decide on a timeline for alterations.  As we will be doing the fittings as close to the wedding date as possible, you will need to be flexible with apts.  Cost will depend on the complexity of the alteration and the lead time.