Getting some hand embroidery for your wedding dress or special outfit can make it really unique.
If you are on a budget, the smallest hand embroidery designs are not very expensive.
Give me a call to have a chat about what kind of hand embroidery is right for you.
Pretty Things Updates
Your Hand Embroidery Service
Personal Hand Embroidery Service
- Pam will contact/meet you to fully discuss your wishes and understand what you require, your dress design and the embroidery designs you hope for - a large motif, bead scatters, panel embroidery etc. Your chosen fabric will also be discussed.
- Based on your consultations, Pam will create a design for your approval. This will be in the form of a black ink line drawing, as this forms the basis of the embroidery pattern to be worked from. Where embroidery is being worked into bodice panels, there may be a lot of extra lines around the edge of a design. These are for Pam's reference and do not form part of the design.
- Once the pattern, beads, threads and colours have been approved by you Pam then traces the pattern onto acid free tissue paper. This is done using a special ink that does not bleed onto your fabric.
- The tissue pattern is then tacked on the fabric area to be worked on.
- The hand embroidery starts. Pam does not use and embroidery hoop as these leave placement marks on the silk. The fabric area being stitched is simply held tight between the fingers.
- Once the embroidery is complete, Pam removes the tacking stitches that hold the pattern in place. The tissue paper is peeled off, using a pin and tweezers to take care of any small areas of embroidery.
- Your personal hand embroidered item is ready for you.
Notes For Your Bridal Designer / Dressmaker
These notes are to help you understand how your hand embroidery fits into the process of making your wedding dress or special outfit. They will also be useful to pass on to your dressmaker and have been compiled by Pam using her 10 years of experience as a bridal designer and maker.
- The garment to be hand embroidered must have had it's final fitting and all alterations completed, as the embroidery often goes up to or over the seams and cannot be altered afterwards.
- The garment needs to be UNLINED so that all of the back face of the fabric is accessible
- All raw edges must be ovelocked or bound as the garment will be handled a lot during the work
- Where hand embroidery is being worked WITHIN bodice/corset panels, Pam will need to borrow the pattern in order to design for the shape of each piece
- A bodice/corset that is to be hand embroidered will benefit from each individual panel being mounted on cotton calico to give strength and form to the garment.
- Each piece of Pam's hand embroidery work is backed with a very light cotton lawn (apart from on sheer fabrics) to provide support for the work. Pam will apply this during the embroidery process and crops it very close to her work. It is held in place by the embroidery itself and does not wrinkle or show through the finished item.
- Depending on the amount of hand embroidery to be done, it can take 4 - 6 weeks to complete so time must be allowed for the dressmaking process to be completed after Pam has finished.
Fabrics For Hand Embroidery
Hand embroidery on a wedding gown works best on a pure silk fabric. Man made fabrics do not respond so well to being worked on by hand as it is difficult to avoid handling marks and creases are hard to remove.
Almost any silk fabric can take hand embroidery, but some fabrics are more difficult than others. The most difficult fabrics include: Chiffon, Georgette, Crepe, Jersey.
These fabrics move about easily and can be difficult to cut straight and stitch. These fabrics can be hand embroidered but care must be taken over the design and, due to their difficulty, embroidery costs are higher.
See some close-up samples of Pretty Things hand embroidery.