Fabric Painting
Wedding Gown • 2024
Design: Kelley Shephard
Often brides will have a vision for their gowns that cannot be found off the rack. So when my bride approached me with a gown she loved, and explained that it was missing the silver detailing she really wanted, we started looking at options. First we looked at adding trim or fabric, but the trim would weigh it down, and with how the waterfall segments of the dress flowed back and forth the fabric would need to be on both sides and could get heavy. So then I suggested painting a floral motif along each panel of the dress.
Process
Painting on a sheer organza material required hooping the fabric to create a taught surface that was lifted from the table. If the fabric was just rested on a surface and painted the paint mostly stuck to the surface behind it. It also required a special paint that would remain flexible on the delicate fabric. I used Jacquard Lumiere paints in two shades of silver and a white pearlescent shade.
