Have a dress or gown in your life that might need a little TLC? If you plan to keep it hung in the closet for the long term, you might want to consider adding some easy straps. Many antique and vintage dresses need extra support simply due to their age, as organic material breaks down over time. In addition, garments of any age that have heavy skirts will always benefit from some DIY suspenders.
Yes, suspenders. Don’t worry; they’re easy to remove.
So here’s the plan: simply hand sew cotton twill tape along the inside to form a second waistband, and then sew two big hanger loops to it. Adding a second waistband and straps to the inside of your gown, you will be redistributing the weight to make sure no one area of the dress will have to support too much.
Not sure if your dress should be hung on a hanger? Check out this post to find out.
Here’s the big disclaimer: this DIY process requires hand-sewing. But guess what? Hand-sewing is not hard! So don’t fill my DMs saying things like “But I can’t even sew a button!”
Ha. Yes you can. Hand-sewing is easy because:
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You get to go at your own pace
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It’s easy to remove a stitch
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It doesn’t need to be perfect.
In fact, the goal here is for your sewing to be invisible! So you don’t need the straightest lines or fanciest of handiwork.
Still feeling nervous? Practice your sewing on a kitchen towel or washcloth first.
Okay, are you ready? Then let’s go!
Hangerbee’s Save the Dress wedding gown preservation kit includes the twill tape needed for this project. But if you can’t wait that long, you can also purchase unbleached cotton twill tape at any fabric store (or from our website soon).
Follow the directions at the right and be sure to contact us if you have any questions or concerns. We’re happy to troubleshoot with you. And please share photos of your work with us; we’d love to see your gowns ready to hang!
