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Are you concerned about how much prom alterations cost?
According to this article on money.com, the average cost of prom is close to $1000. Between the limo, the ticket, the dress, the nails, the shoes, the jewelry, the makeup, and the hair – the costs rise astronomically!
Teens and their families often make the mistake of forgetting to budget for dress alterations. Alterations can cost more than the dress itself, depending on what alterations are needed. If you are going shopping for a dress, shop smart. Look for dresses that don’t entail costly alterations.
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When shopping for a dress consider the following elements that may need to be altered.
The most common problem is the dress is too long. Single layer dresses, that do not have a large circumference are by far the simplest and quickest to hem.
Remember time is money. The longer it takes the tailor to alter your dress the more costly it will be, just like any other service-based business like the car mechanic or the boiler repair man.
Consider the following when your dress needs to be shortened.
- Number of layers – the tailor must shorten every layer. Most dresses are made with two to four layers. Sheer overlay, fashion fabric, lining, underlining or tulle.
- The fullness of the skirt – the greater the circumference is the skirt hem to more time it will take the tailor to alter it.
- Beading, beading is far more complicated to alter than sequins. Often sewing machine needles can stitch through sequins without a problem. However, if there is bead work near the bottom of the dress this may have to be removed and reattached after the alteration. Beading is all done by hand which takes a lot of time.
- Each individual ruffle must be hemmed. This dress below only has one ruffle but other dresses have multiple ruffles that need to be altered individually.
- Lace can easily be shortened if the dress but if the lace is sewn onto the bottom of the dress this requires that the lace strip be removed, the dress be shortened and then the lace sewn back on. Lace fabric is easier to shorten than a dress with a lace over lay on top.
At the time of this post I usually charge $60 for a single layer hem and $75 for two layers, but prices go up from there. In another post I cover some tips on how to measure and fit correctly to shorten a prom dress.
The podcast Sewing Out Loud also has a great episode on tiny hems, which is useful is you are the one doing the hemming.
Shoulder straps are the easiest, least costly alteration
A dress may look like it doesn’t fit because the straps are simply too long. When the straps are too long, the bust sags and you will show excess clevage but shortening the straps is a minimual job as long as there is not a lot of hand beadwork on the strap seam.
For the full post on how to alter the straps on a prom dress click here.
Beware of poor fit
Before you purchase a prom dress beware of dresses that don’t fit well in the bust area. This is especially problematic when the dress has little support in the back like this
On dresses with no back there is nothing a tailor can do to give you more bust support. If you are dead set on a dress like this I recommend double sided tape to hold the dress in place.
You will also want to shop for backless bras or specialty bras also available on amazon. Of course, this also adds to the mouting costs of the prom.
Looking to save money on prom?
Check out these Frugal Prom Tips and Prom on a Budget.