Hemming a lace designed dress with scalloping

Pretty dress! You're not the first person with this problem. A good alterations department will be able to remove the bottom piece of lace and reapply it as necessary. You shouldn't lose anything I the process. Just ask whoever is doing your alterations what to expect with the final look and about any lace pieces she might have to remove entirely.

A seamstress can do this no issue, but it will be more expensive than a standard hem. The lace applique on the hem is removed, the dress is hemmed, and then everything is resewn back in place. Its labor intensive, but it can be done by a good seamstress. Ask your bridal shop for suggestions if they don't have an in-house seamstress.

A good seamstress will be able to save the design

I emailed the alterations place I was going to go take the dress to and they said there was no way to save the design because there are no seems on the waistline The whole reason I bought this dress was because of the design and the hem.

Ditto what Niki said. I also have scalloping on my dress, and they told me the same thing. Remove the applique, hem, reapply the applique.

@Niki @LaurenET I really hope so. I am very upset the seamstress I was going to use told me that they will need to cut off the hem. The whole reason I bought this dress was because of the pretty lace design. I spent $2,000 on this dress because of the design. I can't believe I wasn't told about the option to order with hollow to hem measurements.

Definitely go to a different seamstress. Depending on how much it needs hemmed, they may need to shorten the lace slightly, but the integrity of the design should still remain.

First, LOVEEEE the dress. so beautiful.

second, an experience seamstress should be able to fix it.

they potentially may need to cut that entire area off and re-sew it on the dress higher. this can affect the overall look of the dress. I was warned about this on many dresses I tried on. I'm 5'2

Wait don't panic!!!

My dress has a similar lace bottom. My seamstress is removing the lace, hemming the dress, and putting the lace back on. It's not going to ruin the lace pattern at all.

Go somewhere else. It can be done!

I have lace scalloping on my the bottom of my dress too. When I ordered my dress (Athena by David Tutera), they gave me the option to have it made with a custom hem so I did that.

But the boutique owner said it can definitely be done by a skilled seamstress, you may just have to pay more.

Love your dress!! Mine has a very similar bottom, with a non-uniform lace pattern. I'd be careful with your seamstress removing lace and sewing it back on.. apparently it can rip very easily (or at least mine was too delicate to do this). My seamstress ended up raising the hem up a few inches and piecing it over existing pieces of lace (if that makes any sense). It looks perfect and you can't even tell it was altered. Don't stress - it can be done!! Maybe get multiple opinions from different seamstresses/see if they have done this type of dress.

EDIT: Can you contact the salon and ask them why you weren't given the hollow-to-hem option? Maybe they can do something..

@Sarah Thank you for your comment. That gives me some relief. I definitely feel stressed about this, but I am hoping I can find a skilled seamstress that can help me like you did. I made 2 appointments with 2 different seamstresses for next week, over the phone they both said they could alter any dress (although they haven't seen mine yet).

I did call the bridal shop and ask why I wasn't given that option. Their reply was they only suggest that for very short girls or very tall girls, I replied that I am 5' 2" (I will be wearing 4 inch heels, the Badley Mishka Kiara heels) but it was still too long on me even with those heels. The Bridal shop is a big factory type of place, the sales associates don't spend much time on you. A lot of the small boutiques in NYC have $4,000 dresses+ so I opted for this place because I didn't think you needed to spend that much for something pretty. I am very bummed about this. Makes me really sour on the whole wedding industry honestly...seems like they just want to take your money and don't bother to tell you anything you need to know.

@GPR Ugh...that's ridiculous. I totally agree it seems like half the bridal salons just want your money or will push you into a dress you don't really love. Yours is gorgeous though! Don't worry about the alterations, it's great you contacted a few seamstresses. Everything will work out. You have lots of time, too, which is a plus!

It can totally be done. Hopefully you find a great seamstress to work with! Good luck at your appointments.

@Sarah @Kristy Thank you! I am deciding to keep the hope alive, I will visit every seamstress in the area if I have to! I do love this dress, that's why I am bummed about potentially ruining it (not to mention throwing a huge sum of money down the drain). With the heels I will be 5' 6" but I read somewhere that wedding gowns are made for a woman that is 5' 8" and wears 2 inch heels (so 5' 10" I guess) so I am guessing it has to be shortened by 4 inches.

That makes sense. Im 5'7" and wore 1-inch kitten heels and didnt need my dress hemmed.

Best of luck!

It is possible, I have done this. It is true, there are seamstresses who know how to do this. There are different ways with a different price tag on each.

I truly feel that the bridal store should give as many options as possible to avoid brides from feeling taken advantage of. Recently on a FB page I responded to a manager of a bridal store, stating their sales associates should be responsible financially for the mistakes in sizing that makes an expensive dress more expensive.

I hope you can find someone in your area to help you!

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