When your hooks and eye clasps can’t meet, gussets are an option. When you first go shopping for a dress it’s truly hard to also find what you like and have it fit perfectly. Even when it’s custom made there are going to be a need for some alterations. Like we’ve suggested in our previous blog, prior to purchasing a dress always try it on. Try to make sure the top fits properly, from walking and sitting ask yourself some questions.
-Does it slip down?
-Does the dress shift?
-Is it uncomfortable? Some dresses have boning on the side to give it the bodice structure.
A new trend this year we’ve seen a lot of is purchasing dresses online. Make sure prior to doing so you either:
1. Consult with a tailor to get custom measurements done for custom dresses.
2. Consult online charts to figure out the size association with S, M, L, XL etc
3. Call or email the buyer to find out how their dress sizes run smaller or larger.
As a matter of practice many boutique shops that help order dresses for you generally run larger. Upwards of 2-3 sizes larger to accommodate certain areas such as bust or hips. Having a larger dress is generally easier to slim down a dress as opposed to making it larger based on the labor involved and also depending on the type of dress. Every dress style is different for example:
-Simpler dresses on the top with just the fabric
-Dresses with fabric and boning
-Dresses with fabric boning and also rhinestones or beading on the side.
-Dresses with zippers and boning
Let’s start by understanding what a gusset is. A gusset is a piece of material sewn into the garment to both strengthen or to enlarge a part of the garment. It may be sew in many different ways on a dress in the following examples:
-Underarm hole with sleeves
-In place of the zipper
-On the side panel gussets
What is the normal turnaround time for gussets? Depending on the quality tailor or seamstress you find. We’ve performed gusset alterations within hours before but we’re also very well skilled in what we do daily.
When it comes to fabrics, we also have couple really cool ideas. Either our past posts on where to locate fabric or if you tailor hasn’t mentioned it already you may also look at taking new fabric or fabric from the bottom of your dress to try to match the same fabrics. Gussets can be made to any dress or material depending on what is necessary.
Here are some examples of gussets we’ve done this year!
The initial picture is the gusset to try the size after the first fitting, then we were able to harvest fabric from the bottom hem to recreate the gusset and the last two pictures is the dress finished. How it’s hung doesn’t so the difference, but the interior is also well lined! Thank you to our wonderful client Laura!
