Dress Dilemma

acrookston

So I did something silly and bought a dress a couple sizes too small in hopes that I would lose weight and be able to fit into it.  I am losing weight but I'm not confident that I will be able to lose enough, fit into the dress and get any necessary alterations in time for my wedding.  My wedding is October 20, 2012 and the dress cost $300.  Should I scrap it and get another dress?!  Is there still time to lose more weight and get alterations?

torontozombielover

i think it depends on where you're at with the sizing now. Have you tried the dress on lately? October 20th is still 2 and a half months away, so if you buckle down you could definitely lose more but it all depends on how much you need to. Also - do you want it to be skin tight and making it hard to breath on the day of your wedding? Probably not....I intend to do lots of eating and drinking on my wedding day! lol

maribeth721

Well I think you need to give us more info. How much weight have you lost? How many inches would you need to lose to fit into the dress? Have you talked to a seamstress at all - do you know if the dress can be let out?

ZeroOrchestra

Ditto PPs. You could drop around 16 pounds in two months, although it is a ton of work. It really depends on how far you have to go. You know your body best.

acrookston

This picture was taken 6/13/12 and since then I have lost about ten pounds but haven't tried the dress on again.  I hope I will only need to lose another twenty pounds to zip the dress completely up....or at least I am hoping.  The zipper only zips up to the top of the beaded waist band.

I haven't taken it to a seamstress to figure out if it can be let out or how much that will cost.  I'm going to do that Wednesday.  One of my fears is that even if I was able to lose twenty pounds and it fit, I may still need alterations to make it fit my body and there may not be enough time to do that OR I would have to pay an arm and a leg to have it rushed.

maribeth721

Twenty pounds is a lot of weight to lose in 2.5 months. And there's a lot of things to factor in there, like what if you hit a plateau or something. Like Zero said, thats a ton of work. I would try to keep losing and find a seamstress ASAP and see what they can do to let the dress out. If they can't your other option would unfortunately be to find a new dress.

What are you currently doing to lose?

ZeroOrchestra

That's a pretty aggressive goal for the timeframe. Two pounds per week is the max of what you should be losing, and that in itself is tough to do. You have to be extremely disciplined. Not that you can't be disciplined, just pointing it out. Keep in mind that as you lose your body shifts and does different things, so definitely consult your seamstress. You'll probably need extra fittings right up until the wedding, and that could get costly.

marston258

I think a corset back could be a good bet if you think it will look good with the style of the dress.
 
Also,you can actually get a good idea for yourself how much the dress can be altered. Look inside the dress at the seams and see how much seam allowance is there. From the place where it is sewn, is there any material on the inside? Many bridal gowns have 1/2" - 1" inside each seam for just such problems. You want to have at least 1/4" left on the inside after alterations. However, if your dress has 1" available at each seam, this is actually 2" because it's where two peices of fabric are joined. Subtract the amount you need left on the inside (1/4" per peice) and you could have 1.5" of fabric available to be let out of each seam. That could end up being a fair amount of room to let out the dress. Hope this makes sense - it's a bit hard to describe.

Another option, although it may sound crazy is to just buy yourself a new dress - it might be just as cheap after all of the alterations. Then, have the dress you already bought dyed a pretty color and wear it to another event after you lose some more weight. There are companies that will do this for less than the price of a new evening gown.

msuprincess04

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_getting-shape_dress-dilemma?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:238Discussion:b4e29f4c-7044-4747-bd31-e4bb596c8e8dPost:4aa48959-f397-45b5-b877-271edc84eeb3">Re: Dress Dilemma</a>:
[QUOTE]I think a corset back could be a good bet if you think it will look good with the style of the dress.   Also,you can actually get a good idea for yourself how much the dress can be altered. Look inside the dress at the seams and see how much seam allowance is there. From the place where it is sewn, is there any material on the inside? Many bridal gowns have 1/2" - 1" inside each seam for just such problems. You want to have at least 1/4" left on the inside after alterations. However, if your dress has 1" available at each seam, this is actually 2" because it's where two peices of fabric are joined. Subtract the amount you need left on the inside (1/4" per peice) and you could have 1.5" of fabric available to be let out of each seam. That could end up being a fair amount of room to let out the dress. Hope this makes sense - it's a bit hard to describe. Another option, although it may sound crazy is to just buy yourself a new dress - it might be just as cheap after all of the alterations. Then, have the dress you already bought dyed a pretty color and wear it to another event after you lose some more weight. There are companies that will do this for less than the price of a new evening gown.
Posted by marston258[/QUOTE]

This is pretty much what I was going to suggest.

Good luck! And please, do not starve yourself or do something crazy so that it zips, but you can't breathe, you'll be miserable at your own wedding!

vbjoanna

Depending on what the alterations person says (or how they react more than what they say) I would totally buy a new dress and do it now -- perhaps even the same dress but a size bigger. Then you could keep working toward losing, and wear the one that fits better and sell the unworn, unaltered one. You might not get what you paid for it, but you wouldn't have as much stress leading up to the wedding or perhaps huge alterations bills, or need to go out at the 11th hour and buy a different dress off the rack.