Rachel Lamb Bridal Design

If you're thinking of commissioning a bespoke wedding dress, I thought it would be useful to return to bride Lois from my previous post , and to show some images from her fittings so the progress of having a dress made can be seen. I've divided this process into two posts. This is part 1. First fitting: For at least the first 2 fittings, the toiles (prototypes of the design to check the fit) are made in calico, or something similar. It's not the loveliest of fabrics but it works well for toiles because it's cheap, easy to make marks on and to unpick and tear up! It's fairly standard to use calico for toiles in the fashion industry. Sometimes it's called a 'muslin', which I think might be more of an American term. (NB: It's important to have the underwear you're going to be wearing on your wedding day for the first fitting and every fitting thereafter, otherwise it's not possible to fit very accurately.)

Continuing my mini series on my Bespoke wedding dress design service, I thought it would be useful to take a look at the most common FAQs that I get asked by brides-to-be. These questions come up over and over again, so here goes: How long does it take to make a wedding dress?  I get asked this all the time and there isn't one answer! It depends entirely on the design of the dress. If we put the hours end to end it can be anywhere from approximately 40 hours to approximately 160...ish. It could be more or less than this, but this is average for me and my work. However the way I work means the hours are spread out over months, rather than worked from start to finish in one go. I time every dress I make so I have a good idea of how long a particular design might take to make. Working on a toile. What lead time do you need?  Usually 6 months or more, but often it's less than this. A year is ideal. 18 months is wonderful. If it's a complicated design or requires much