How to Design a Custom Dress

Wanting a unique dress that's custom-fit for you can be an expensive endeavor that only celebrities and the very rich seem able to indulge. However, many women want special dresses made perfectly for their style and bodies, and they shouldn't spend thousands of dollars to get it. Follow a few steps to design a custom dress so you can wear unique couture without spending a fortune.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Camera
• Blank paper
• Pencil and pen

1. Get someone to take a picture of you standing both straight on and profile. Stand up straight and put your arms to your sides while taking the picture.

2. Take a blank sheet of paper and use your pen to draw your shape from the pictures as best you can. Get a pencil and begin playing with different dress lengths and strap styles on that shape to see what would be most flattering.

3. Go to a department store or boutique and try on dresses that catch your eye. Take pictures of yourself in the dresses you enjoy, and use some of the ideas from these dresses to tweak your own personal design.

4. Use a computer drawing program to get the dimensions of the dress the way you want it. Scan your picture into a program like Adobe Photoshop, which can help you create the desired type of dress. Take your drawings or simple sketches to a seamstress for an estimate of fabric and production costs.

5. Work with a seamstress to play around with lengths, colors and fabric choices since she can typically offer some great ideas. Try something you wouldn't normally think would look good on you. Explore and be creative.

Tips & Warnings

• Flip through magazines to get a good idea of trends or styles that would work well with your body style.
• Buy the fabric yourself rather than having the seamstress buy the fabric. It will be much cheaper, and you will get the exact fabric and pattern that fits your tastes so the seamstress doesn't have to guess your preferences.
• Various websites offer software tools for designing your own dress. Try some of these tools since they can be surprisingly helpful in the process, especially for aspiring designers with limited artistic skills.
• If sewing the dress yourself, keep in mind the difficulty of the pattern or if a pattern even exists. If you design a custom dress (unless it is a fairly standard dress shape), a pattern might not exist.

Who Can Help:

• Are you tired of cakey makeup? Try RawMinerals Free.

Resources

• Design your own dream dress on this website.
• Find some of the newest dress trends for inspiration.
• This blog is dedicated to dresses and dress making.

[WendyRenee]

on 5/27/2008 This is great!! Thanks!