Dyeing the particular wedding dress was a wonderful journey. The couple contacted me early to ask if I could do this. I was honest about the risks, and pricing, and they seemed willing to take on the chance of things going bad.

I absolutely fell in love with the dress when I first saw it. There was white beadwork on the lace and a horsehair hem. I took samples from the seam allowances to do a test run on all the fabrics and laces.

I also added a bishop sleeve to the dress.

The bride and I discussed the results of the test dye and she decided to move forward with having the wedding dress dyed. From the test samples, I could tell that the black was running a little blueish. So I bought a few bottles of orange in case I needed to balance the color to get a true black.


When the dress came out and was rinsed repeatedly, I was so pleased with the color. The lining did not take the dye evenly, but from the sample, we both could see that it would probably happen. It didn’t show at all. Some of the lace and the horsehair braid didn’t take the dye well and the beads stayed fairly white.


When the bride tried on the dress, she gasped and could barely get air. She was so pleased. I asked the bride if she wanted me to replace the beadwork, horsehair braid or lace with black. She was adamant with a no. “Don’t change a thing.” She loved how the beadwork and lace popped out. So did I. It gave the dress a beautiful texture.

To learn more about dyeing fabrics visit my "Colorful Bride' Symposium - theandersonacademy.com/symposium-22/

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