best fabric to use when making a formal dress?
i’m making a dress for a formal event and was wondering best kind of fabrics to use. its floor length. and was also wondering how to make it poofy at the skirt?
Pick the pattern first. On the back of the pattern envelope, there will be a list of fabrics suitable for the pattern. Choosing something similar to the suggested fabrics is crucial to making the dress hang correctly. If you choose a stiff fabric for something that’s supposed to be flowing, it’ll look like a circus tent. If you choose something that “hangs thin” like a charmeuse for a pattern design that requires some body for the fabric, it looks like you’re wearing an old rag.
Virtually any fabric can be made into a formal dress… it all depends on the effect you’re after. The dress I wore for many years was a wool doubleknit — somewhat like: http://www.voguepatterns.com/item/V8449.htm — that I changed around with jackets, shawls, scarves, belts and jewelry.
If you’re a beginner, stay away from satin (especially cheap satin), charmeuse, chiffon. Choose a fabric with some texture or pattern (they can hide a multitude of sewing sins). Avoid fabrics with a horizontal rib
like taffeta if it’s a fitted dress — they are prone to “seam slippage” and the seams simply disintegrate during wear. Remember that your ready to wear size is not your pattern size — go by measurements, not size numbers, and make a trial dress first of cheap fabric or lining fabric that handles and drapes similarly to your intended fabric.
Asking for advice on fabrics in chain fabric stores is pretty iffy — you don’t have to know a thing about sewing to work there, and I’ve heard some really bad recommendations from store clerks. On the other hand, most people who work in independent fabric stores are very experienced and can often make good suggestions.
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