question about alterring a stoned gown

[standardgirl]

Is it possible? The dress is heavily stoned.....
If I need to alter the waist line smaller, how much work is there?
average cost or cost I should expect?
If I want to reskirt the dress....how much work is there? Should I even bother? or should I just wear it, and maybe get a new dress in the future.

[Larinda McRaven]

Who made the dress...? Basically if you know what kind of glue they used, you might have an easier time removing the stones adjacent to the seams.

It is not hard, just very tedious and slow.

[standardgirl]

Do I have to actually remove all the stones to get the dress alterred?

[Larinda McRaven]

Not all of them, but if you want to machine stitch it, you have to remove the stones around the seams since they can't fit under the foot of the machine.

[standardgirl]

Thank you for the reply Larinda.
This will be a FUN job to do.....
any other suggestions that I should know?

[Larinda McRaven]

Check to see if the glue is water soluable. That is the best...then you can soak the stones off and the glue too.

I have always had trouble sewing through the glue that was left behind. It tends to gum up the needle and the machine bogs down pretty bad. But with a water soluable glue I can get almost all of it off and then it is a breeze from there on out.

Have fun!

[Laura]

Personally, I won't touch a heavily stoned dress when it comes to alterations. But then I'm lazy. You basically have to pick the stones off around the seams, make the changes, and then put the stones back on. The amount of work it will take (and therefore the cost of the alteration) will partially depend on how many seams have to be taken apart and put back together.

Now, if you can do it yourself, then labor costs are no problem!

Perhaps the original gown maker can do the alterations? If nothing else you can take it to a local seamstress or tailor and see what he or she says. Perhaps someone who has worked on wedding gowns would take it on.