Couture designers, like you, tend to work with overseas embroidery suppliers to meet all your hand-embroidery and beading requirements. With every new collection, it becomes more and more important for you to find ways to maintain the high quality of your beaded gowns, especially those from the previous collection.
Even as a brand, it’s important that your Clients enjoy garments that are longer lasting especially since couture pieces are always treasured pieces. And for designers that make prêt-a-porter lines, beaded accessories likes shoes, jewellery, brooches, etc, durability becomes even more important.
Here, we take you through some tips and tricks that help us make our Clients’ embroideries and beadwork last longer.
BEADS:
Quality
It’s important to use good quality beads and no, we don’t mean expensive beads. Your embroidery supplier should be able to guide you with beads are high in quality, that maintain their shine for longer and don’t easily tarnish/ fade over a period of time.
Dyeing
It’s best to use readily available colours for beads as dyed beads, in the long term, tend to lose their colour. However, if your design requires you to use colours that are not readily available, we have a recommendation. Find readily available beads closest to the colour you want (the norm is to dye white beads) and dye those to your desired colour. This way, even when they lose colour over time, your garment’s look remains uncompromised.
Remember glass crystals don’t dye well, they will always look patchy. It’s better to dye rexine crystals for your unique colour requirements.
There are many hacks like these that an experienced embroidery supplier can guide you with. Write to us on info@ricamour.com if you’d like to discuss with us.
BEADING:
Ensure nothing less than couture-standards are met when it comes to the quality of beading. A flawless finish, secure stitches, no loose beads and threads are essentials. Ensure your supplier sends you a repair kit with every garment so you can easily fix any bead, in case they fall off, break, etc.
Fabric vs Patterns:
A lot of designers prefer working with beaded fabrics to make their gowns as it allows them spontaneity and tweaking of design until the very end. However cutting through fabrics means cutting through embroidery and thus, opening up secure stitches.
Having embroidery custom-made to the garment’s paper patterns is a lot more efficient. Since it’s custom-made to your requirements, you don’t need to cut through embroidery. It ensures minimal wastage and higher durability as there are no loose beads and threads to repair. Not to forget, it’s also a more economical option.
STORAGE:
Store the gowns wrapped in muslin cloth to avoid exposure to dust, light, humidity etc. Maybe even throw in some silica gel packs to absorb humidity. Rolling the gown is better than folding it. If your gown has crystals with claws, place tissue paper after every roll/ fold so they don’t tug at the rest of the fabric. Never wash your beaded gowns, dry clean only!
At Ricamour Embroideries, we love creating new designs for couture and experimenting with new themes, materials and techniques. Our Process ensures couture-standard workmanship and high quality components. This is why our Clients enjoy the highest possible finish. Explore innovative ways to personalise your bride’s dream gown in our blog- Embroidered with Love.
Write to us on info@ricamour.com or WhatasApp us for free sampling and shipping on your first three orders (minimum confirmed order value being $750).
