Wedding Style: How to Add Color to Your Wedding Gown

Although white has for years been the color of choice for brides in Western countries, it is becoming increasingly popular for wedding gowns to incorporate other colors as well. This can range anywhere from trim or beading in a different color, to an ivory dress instead of a white one, or a strip of different colored fabric all the way down the train. These are a few ways that you can incorporate color into your wedding gown.

Color in Wedding Gowns: Bows and Sashes

One increasingly popular style in wedding gowns is to have a colored sash around the waist that then ties in the back and runs down the train. This is a great way to add color to a gown that you have already purchased, because you have so much flexibility in the color and style of the fabric you would like to add. The color can match the bridesmaids, flowers, and the groomsmen.

To add a sash, all you need to do is to gently stitch the fabric to the waist of the gown in a couple locations on the front. After it has been tied in the first half of a bow in the back, it should be secured firmly with stitches because it needs to hold the rest of the weight of the ends of the fabric. Then tie the remainder of the bow over that, and if desired, stitch the ends of the fabric to the gown to keep them centered as they trail down the back.

Color in Wedding Gowns: Trim

A subtle and elegant way to add color to your wedding gown is to sew a very thin colored trim around the top and bottom of your gown. To do this, you will need fabric about 2 inches wide and as long as the circumference of the top of your gown and the circumference of the bottom of the gown.

Fold over the edge of your colored fabric to get a clean line, and put that on the outside of the gown, folding the rest over the edge to the inside. Then use a sewing machine threaded with thread to closely match that color (or white if you would prefer contrast with the dress) and sew the fabric onto the trim of the dress.

Color in Wedding Gowns: Embellishments

Beads, lace, and fabric embellishments such as flowers can also be added to a wedding gown to give it some color. Some brides choose to add colored beading down the backs of their train to draw more attention to them, and that is very simple: just sew beads on individually in the locations desired. Whatever you want to add to your wedding gown can be sewn on with basic skills, and you will end up with a unique and color-infused wedding gown for your big day.