Wedding dress folds? Alterations help!!

I agree it looks beautiful on you! I can offer two insights about the minor "wrinkling" in the midriff based on daughter's experience with a similar issue. In her case, first, they needed to take the dress is a little bit at her ribcage and add cups to make it as tight as possible. The second thing (and you might want to try this first...) is that there was much less wrinkling when she was standing up straight with her shoulders back. As soon as she slouched a little and/or let her shoulders roll forward, the wrinkling was more noticeable. I'd probably wait until they've finished everything else (especially taking up the shoulders and putting in the cups) and see how it is then -- both of those adjustments might help significantly. When everything else was done with daughter's dress it was clear the bodice needed some adjusting to get rid of some midriff wrinkling; in addition to taking in the side seams, they ended up using two sets of cups in order to make sure daughter's chest was "locked and loaded" (she's naturally a 36 DD, so extra padding with cups was the LAST thing she expected to need, but it was the magic bullet she was looking for). When her chest was firmly lifted up by the dress/cups/boning, the wrinkling decreased significantly. Good luck!

1) It doesn't look bad.

2) If the dress has no stretch there will be places where it bunches or pulls as you move. Skin is elastic. Stretchy fabric can move with you as you move but fabric without stretch cannot replicate what your skin and body does, and will look perfect only when standing in a specific pose and posture. Otherwise it will always be either be tight and pulling when you pose/move in a certain way, or bunch slightly when you move in the opposite way. You need to decide whether you want the dress so tight that the fabric is always smooth but sometimes pulls at your body, or whether you want to be comfortable but are okay with the fabric looking a bit looser when you compress your body. With delicate fabrics like illusion lace you cannot make the dress too snug otherwise it will likely rip.

3) If anything with fitting, I would suspect that the length of the torso is ever so slightly long on you, but marginally so. If you are standing tall with your shoulders back and still get this bunching, then my guess is there is just a bit too much fabric in the torso area. However that fabric might be necessary if you want to be able to raise your arms in a sleeved dress made of a non-stretch material.

I think your decision on this is wise -- you want to be COMFORTABLE, so if that means there is the potential for a little tiny bit of wrinkling, okey-doke! I think when you try the dress on again after the current work is complete, you'll likely see the difference your posture has on how the dress lays....

One of the first posts I read on WW a few years ago was from a bride with a very fitted gown. She was thrilled how perfectly it fit at her last alterations appointment and figured all was good! She dressed at the wedding venue, so it wasn't until after she was dressed minutes from the ceremony was to start that she realized the dress was so close fitting that she could NOT sit down.... She laughed at herself and spent the entire day -- including eating dinner -- standing up! A little give in your dress is probably a good thing! Good luck!

My wedding dress is lace and not stretchy. It fit me well when I got it but I lost a few pounds after and I kept thinking I needed to get it taken in about 1-1.5" because it was ever so slightly loose. Not baggy but not snug fitted.

Well, I had only ever tried it on in the morning, usually after a light breakfast, and one time I ended up trying it on after a full restaurant meal with friends. I wanted to show it to a friend and she goes "it looks like it fits perfect, are you sure you want to have it taken in?" With a full belly it really didn't have room to spare, but it was still comfortable and not too tight.

Then Covid came, so I was never able to bring it to a seamstress and I wore it for our elopement anyway. It was totally fine. And I plan to wear it this year for our wedding celebration and am not going to have it taken it so I can enjoy the food, sit down, and dance without feeling like a sausage.

Hi there,

To be honest, unless someone is looking extremely close at the dress the "unsmooth parts" are really hard to tell. As someone who is currently going through the alteration process, i completely understand. It could be just the fabric? Ask your seamstress what she would recommend my dress has boning and it doesn't show any unsmooth areas so I'm not sure that would be the problem. However, my dress does not have any embellishments/lace, so maybe the boning could be the culprit?

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