It’s prom season! Come April through June, you can always count on a few prom dresses coming through your shop doors. Help your clients look their best this season. Here are some areas where many seamstresses need help when tailoring prom dresses.
Altering beaded prom dresses.
Dealing with an intricately beaded dress can be very difficult and time-consuming. Start by removing the beads by cutting threads and securing the beads left on the dress at the seam edge. Then using a zipper foot, sew the new seam, Be sure to get as close to the beads as possible so you don’t have as many beads to sew back on later. Here is a great article that will help when dealing with a boned bodice with plastic boning.
Adding padding to the bodice
Ask the client if they are going to wear a bra with their dress. This will help you determine the level of support needed in the bodice. If the dress needs some extra padding, there are a few sew-in bra cup options to choose from. Take a look at our Bra Cup Guide to help you choose and install bra cups to the dress.
Beware of the “One Size Fits All” dress
There are many scams surfacing on the internet that offer cheap, one-size-fits-all prom dresses from places like China. As any good tailor should know, there is no such thing! The perfect-fitting dress takes time and effort to shape and style correctly. Knowing this will help you inform your clients and keep high-quality garments in your stockroom.
Knowing prom “style.”
It’s important to keep up with the current trends and styles of prom dresses. Talk to your clients to get a good understanding of what they want, keeping in mind what is possible for you to achieve within their budget and time frame.
Start with a solid foundation. Having a stable base for your client to stand on can make all the difference on both the dress and your knees. Long prom dresses can be easily altered with the help of a round-fitting platform.
There’s no doubt, that if you own an alteration business or sew for a friend, you will come across a prom dress this time of year. So as long as you know what your client wants and have the right supplies, you will make a very happy prom-goer.