Talking Fabrics

Late last year we wrote about the Top Ten Bridal Fashion/Style Terms and we hope you enjoyed reading it and learned a thing or two! Now to expand on that, let’s focus especially on fabrics, arm yourself with enough info before you start bridal dress shopping to make an informed choice for your big day.

Fabric VS Weave

Satin is not a fabric..satin does not refer to the fabric material itself, satin is the weave (the shininess of the fabric). So you can take silk thread and make that into satin, or you can take polyester and make it into satin. Ask your bridal stylist what the fabric is; if they say satin, ask, “silk satin?” If it’s “just satin” that’s code for “synthetic fibers that won’t breathe and makes you sweat more than in a sauna”.
Same goes for organza, taffeta, and tulle (more to come on tulle in a second), they can all be made out of silk, or the cheap stuff, so ask about silk.

Bobbinet=tulle

Bobbinet is machine made tulle, and unless it costs $4000 a meter and you can tell it’s hand woven, the tulle/net/whatever on your dress or veil is bobbinet. What does that mean? Well, not much. But if someone is trying to sell you on something tulle vs. bobbinet, they don’t know what they’re talking about. Yes, there are varying levels of delicateness of tulle, but it’s all the same thing.

Not all silks are equal

It’s true, silk is silk, but has it been treated with chemical dyes? Have they been spun paper thin? Too thin to hold its shape or stand up the the structure of the garment? Trust your hand and your eye. If there’s a soft natural glow to the fabric, you’ve got a good quality silk there. Too hard or chintzy a sheen, it’ll look striped in pictures. And fabric should feel good – so if the wedding dress feels good against your skin and moves well as you walk then you’re onto a winner there!

Ivory is Arbitrary

There’s buttery ivory, golden ivory, blush ivory, crisp ivory, strong ivory, pale ivory, deep ivory, light ivory, true ivory, rich ivory, soft ivory…and none of those mean anything either. Especially in bridal fabrics (the same colour from the same manufacturer could even have different colour ivory silk satins depending on the batch!), trust your eye and the colour of the wedding gown in store, does the colour suit your skin tone in store, do you like the way it looks? If so, ignore what the colour of the fabric is called and just ask for a fabric swatch to match your shoes and accessories.

xx