A dress looks one way on the hanger. On you, with your arms raised, sitting on a chair or walking, it can look quite different. Many of the alterations requested at a fitting start with a single detail that bothers you: a strap that slips, a sleeve that pulls at the elbow, or a waist that sits a little too low or too high. These three points are not independent of one another. Move one, and the others move too.<\/p>\n
The waist is the anchor for the rest of the dress. It determines the length of the bodice, and the length of the bodice determines where the neckline and straps sit and, less obviously, how the shoulders settle. A strap that seems too long may in fact be the result of a bodice that has dropped slightly. A sleeve that pulls isn’t always too tight: sometimes the shoulder has shifted a few millimetres from where the sleeve was cut to sit.<\/p>\n
That is why, at your fitting, it pays not to start with the straps but to look at the whole. Ask what gets checked first. The logical order is usually the waist and bodice, then the shoulders and straps, and finally the sleeves. We have gathered the details of what can and cannot generally be changed in our article on wedding dress alterations<\/a>; here we look only at these three areas.<\/p>\n Three things matter with a strap, and none of them is simply its length.<\/p>\n An example from our collection: Love 315<\/a> is an empire wedding dress with a corset-style bodice in embroidered tulle and appliqu\u00e9d nude lace, with thin straps; at the time of writing we have it in size 38. With a dress like this, what you need to watch at your fitting is precisely how the straps behave when you raise your arms or lean towards someone, not just when you stand up straight in front of the mirror.<\/p>\n You feel a sleeve at a fitting mostly when you move. Allow yourself to make the gestures you will make on your wedding day: hugging someone, raising a glass, sitting at the table with your arms by your sides. If the fabric pulls at the underarm or the elbow, say so in the atelier, even if everything looks fine at first glance.<\/p>\n It is also worth noticing what the sleeve is made of. Lace, tulle and chiffon wear differently: some have stretch, others almost none, and those with embroidered motifs cannot be cut just anywhere without the pattern looking interrupted. We have written at greater length about how each one behaves in our article on lace, tulle, chiffon and taffeta<\/a>.<\/p>\n As an example of sleeves with real impact, Love A47<\/a> is an A-line dress in barbie crepe, with long sleeves and puffed shoulders; we have it in size 38. Long sleeves and puffed shoulders call for attention to the length to the wrist and to freedom of movement at the shoulder. How much can be done to a particular dress is only decided at the fitting, once the construction has been seen from the inside.<\/p>\n On dresses with a defined waist, you can see at once if the line sits too high or too low. On empire styles, where the waist rises to just below the bust, a small difference shows less in the mirror but is felt when you breathe and sit down. That is why it is worth sitting down in the dress, taking a deep breath and standing up again a few times.<\/p>\n When the waist is altered, the change doesn’t stay local: as we said, it can affect the length of the dress, the line of the neckline and the position of the straps. If the dress has a belt, embroidery at the waist or pleats, the seamstress needs to see how these details will be preserved. And if the bodice is supported by a corset, what that means for alterations is explained in our article on the dress corset<\/a>.<\/p>\n Photographs help, because they show how the dress falls without you concentrating on it. If you have a photograph of the dress you are considering, you can bring it along. More useful still is to come with the shoes and underwear you will wear on the day, because the height of the heel and the shape of the bustier change the way the waist sits.<\/p>\n How long an alteration takes depends on how many of these points are being changed and on how the dress is constructed, not on a fixed number of days; that is why it is best to discuss the schedule once you have shown exactly what is bothering you.<\/p>\n If you already have a dress in mind, you will find information about the alterations we carry out on our wedding dress tailoring<\/a> page. And if you would like to see how it looks on you, you can arrange a fitting by booking a showroom appointment<\/a>; allow plenty of time, so that you can try every gesture without rushing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Straps, sleeves and waist look like separate alterations, but each one affects the others. Here is what to look for at your fitting and what to discuss in the atelier before the first pin goes in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"alice_seo_title":"Bridal Alterations: Straps, Sleeves & Waist | Alice Design","alice_seo_desc":"Straps, sleeves and waist: what to notice at your fitting, what to ask the seamstress, and why these three wedding dress alterations affect each other.","alice_en_title":"Straps, sleeves and waist: how wedding dress alterations affect one another","alice_en_slug":"wedding-dress-alterations-straps-sleeves-waist","alice_en_short":"","alice_en_excerpt":"Straps, sleeves and waist look like separate alterations, but each one affects the others. Here is what to look for at your fitting and what to discuss in the atelier before the first pin goes in.","alice_en_content":" A dress looks one way on the hanger. On you, with your arms raised, sitting on a chair or walking, it can look quite different. Many of the alterations requested at a fitting start with a single detail that bothers you: a strap that slips, a sleeve that pulls at the elbow, or a waist that sits a little too low or too high. These three points are not independent of one another. Move one, and the others move too.<\/p> The waist is the anchor for the rest of the dress. It determines the length of the bodice, and the length of the bodice determines where the neckline and straps sit and, less obviously, how the shoulders settle. A strap that seems too long may in fact be the result of a bodice that has dropped slightly. A sleeve that pulls isn't always too tight: sometimes the shoulder has shifted a few millimetres from where the sleeve was cut to sit.<\/p> That is why, at your fitting, it pays not to start with the straps but to look at the whole. Ask what gets checked first. The logical order is usually the waist and bodice, then the shoulders and straps, and finally the sleeves. We have gathered the details of what can and cannot generally be changed in our article on wedding dress alterations<\/a>; here we look only at these three areas.<\/p> Three things matter with a strap, and none of them is simply its length.<\/p> An example from our collection: Love 315<\/a> is an empire wedding dress with a corset-style bodice in embroidered tulle and appliqu\u00e9d nude lace, with thin straps; at the time of writing we have it in size 38. With a dress like this, what you need to watch at your fitting is precisely how the straps behave when you raise your arms or lean towards someone, not just when you stand up straight in front of the mirror.<\/p> You feel a sleeve at a fitting mostly when you move. Allow yourself to make the gestures you will make on your wedding day: hugging someone, raising a glass, sitting at the table with your arms by your sides. If the fabric pulls at the underarm or the elbow, say so in the atelier, even if everything looks fine at first glance.<\/p> It is also worth noticing what the sleeve is made of. Lace, tulle and chiffon wear differently: some have stretch, others almost none, and those with embroidered motifs cannot be cut just anywhere without the pattern looking interrupted. We have written at greater length about how each one behaves in our article on lace, tulle, chiffon and taffeta<\/a>.<\/p> As an example of sleeves with real impact, Love A47<\/a> is an A-line dress in barbie crepe, with long sleeves and puffed shoulders; we have it in size 38. Long sleeves and puffed shoulders call for attention to the length to the wrist and to freedom of movement at the shoulder. How much can be done to a particular dress is only decided at the fitting, once the construction has been seen from the inside.<\/p> On dresses with a defined waist, you can see at once if the line sits too high or too low. On empire styles, where the waist rises to just below the bust, a small difference shows less in the mirror but is felt when you breathe and sit down. That is why it is worth sitting down in the dress, taking a deep breath and standing up again a few times.<\/p> When the waist is altered, the change doesn't stay local: as we said, it can affect the length of the dress, the line of the neckline and the position of the straps. If the dress has a belt, embroidery at the waist or pleats, the seamstress needs to see how these details will be preserved. And if the bodice is supported by a corset, what that means for alterations is explained in our article on the dress corset<\/a>.<\/p> Photographs help, because they show how the dress falls without you concentrating on it. If you have a photograph of the dress you are considering, you can bring it along. More useful still is to come with the shoes and underwear you will wear on the day, because the height of the heel and the shape of the bustier change the way the waist sits.<\/p> How long an alteration takes depends on how many of these points are being changed and on how the dress is constructed, not on a fixed number of days; that is why it is best to discuss the schedule once you have shown exactly what is bothering you.<\/p> If you already have a dress in mind, you will find information about the alterations we carry out on our wedding dress tailoring<\/a> page. And if you would like to see how it looks on you, you can arrange a fitting by booking a showroom appointment<\/a>; allow plenty of time, so that you can try every gesture without rushing.<\/p>","alice_en_seo_title":"Bridal Alterations: Straps, Sleeves & Waist | Alice Design","alice_en_seo_desc":"Straps, sleeves and waist: what to notice at your fitting, what to ask the seamstress, and why these three wedding dress alterations affect each other.","footnotes":""},"categories":[186],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atelier"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alice-design.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alice-design.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alice-design.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alice-design.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alice-design.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3253"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alice-design.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3254,"href":"https:\/\/alice-design.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3253\/revisions\/3254"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alice-design.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alice-design.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alice-design.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alice-design.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Straps: position, width, attachment<\/h2>\n
\n
Sleeves: comfort starts under the arm<\/h2>\n
The waist: what changes when you move it<\/h2>\n
What to bring to your fitting<\/h2>\n
\n
Why they shouldn't be judged one at a time<\/h2>
Straps: position, width, attachment<\/h2>
Sleeves: comfort starts under the arm<\/h2>
The waist: what changes when you move it<\/h2>
What to bring to your fitting<\/h2>