You’ve chosen your dress for your special day, and love the feature of the laced back, but has anyone actually spent the time with you advising you on how you can show it off to it’s best?
How to do the lacing is something that I was always being asked when I used to make and alter wedding and bridesmaids dresses. So I thought I’d share with you my advice on how to achieve that stunning professional finish to your special dress.
It is after all, the special feature that you wanted to have so why not show it off to it's best
Above are some of the dresses that I have made with laced up backs to show you exactly what I mean.
The photos below show a zoomed in image of the lacing of the same dresses.
As I’ve recently been asked to make some alterations to some gowns I thought I’d take the opportunity to photograph the technique used above and share it with you. So here’s my free instructions:-
1. Never try to get the dress on or off with the laces in place, you will never get a really beautiful finish with this as they will get twisted and it’s really difficult to get twists out when the laces are in place.
2 With the dress already on the bride or bridesmaid, thread the lace through the top holes on each side, passing the lace from under the loop and through the loop. Unless the lace you are using is a piece of ribbon, it is likely that there will be a stitched seam to one side. Make sure that this seam is to the bottom edge of your lace. Then check that you have almost exactly the same length of lace on each side.
3. Take one side of the lace, it doesn’t matter, left or right but be consistent with your start point. This demonstration starts with the right side lace. Bring the lace across the top of the top loop on the right and under and out of the second loop on the left so that you have both lace ends on one side (the left).
4. Now take the top lace on the left-hand side and pass it over the top left loop and under and out of the second loop on the right side. Then taking the same lace pass it over the top of the same loop and then under and out of the third loop on the left-hand side. In effect you are going across and back with the same lace. Make sure that you straighten and twists at this stage as it’s much more difficult to get them out later. After this stage you will have both lace ends to the same side.
5. Repeat point 4, building up the lacing until you get to the bottom loop.
6. Once all the loops have been filled, you can now go back and tighten up the lacing. Remember that if you can, you should leave a “V” shape in the back, obviously how wide or narrow the “V” shape is will depend on the fitting of the dress. If the dress meets in the middle then I would suggest that you think about getting the dress taken in at the sides so that you can show the “V” off to it’s best. I have altered many wedding gowns so that the “V” is wider, after all, it’s the very attractive, shape slimming “V” at the back that makes so many brides choose a gown with a lace-up back.
7. Finish off the lacing with a neat bow and leave the lace tails hanging. You might wish to tuck-in the ends, in which case, don’t tie a bow but tie a loose knot so that you don’t get any bulk under the dress. My own personal opinion is to tie a bow and leave the tails hanging.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me and I will do my best to help.
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