Wedding dress- A-line skirt to mermaid

Believe it or not, it's actually MUCH easier to start from scratch and make the whole dress than to alter it! For a start, you need to take into account that the fabric that looks good as an A line skirt may not have the draping qualities needed for the fish tail, and you may not have enough length in the right places...

There are several very good patterns about for the sort of thing you describe. Take a look at these:

And this is a particularly good one:

the tops from this one could be teamed with the skirt from another pattern of you found one you liked:

Or at this: Not a corset top, but the dress is the right shape and stunning. I made this one just before Christmas - the pix are on my web site, URL below - look in Posh Frocks. Another project you might like to look at there is the Pink Bridesmaid one, which has something similar to what you are looking for.

None of these is impossible for the home sewer, but if you want to pay a dressmaker to do it for you, some of your local fabric shops may know of one, or look in the local Yellow Pages or free press ads. ALWAYS ask to see the sewing room and work in progress/previous work, to see the dressmakers quality of work. You get to see a lot of mine on the web site! ;)

For me that's true of any project, not just sewing. I recently did a repair to a stained glass lamp; building a new lamp would have been much less aggravating.

I like it when people approach me and say, "Hey, could you make me a ....." The phrase "Can you fix this ....." fills me with dread and foreboding.

Kathleen

I don't sew anything as fancy as wedding gowns so take what I say with a grain of salt.

I personally prefer to re-make existing dresses. A lot of sewing *can* be tedious and if I can leverage what someone else has done, often with better tools than I have available, I'm happy to do it.

I recently re-made a wedding gown into a ballroom dancing gown. I entirely took off the long silk skirt with train and replaced it with a triple circle skirt. The bodice was beaded lace over a silk crepe that we matched quite well in the very most underskirt. If I were to make that bodice it would have taken me 10 hours, easily. I wouldn't want to make a strapless boned bodice unless I had to. However, most of my work is used quite heavily in a pre-professional ballet company so being robust is more important than being perfect.

Depending on the design of your gown there are many options. With a draped waist I think it is quite possible and if you find a willing seamstress s/he may be able to use the fabric from the skirt. Go to a consultation with a sewing professional. If you find someone you like and trust take them to the bridal shop. See what happens.

It isn't impossible, it just may not be cheaper.

-Charlotte

Thanks for your replies. I think I'll have to speak to some local dress makers and get their prices/time sclaes

Thank you