Choosing The Right Fabric For Your Perfect Wedding Dress

If you want to choose the perfect dress for your wedding you are not alone. Every bride wants a perfect wedding dress and spends hours looking for one. Before you start visiting bridal shops or start flipping through magazines to find the right one, remember that there is more to choosing a perfect wedding gown than just the design of the dress or finding the right person to make it. For example, your choice of fabric plays a key role. A dress style that looks gorgeous in chiffon may not fall well if made in satin or silk.

There are various factors that you need to keep in mind while choosing a fabric. The look and tactile feel of the fabric are not the only criteria that you should consider. Even though some fabrics may look good and may even fit within your budget, they may not be the perfect choice. Choose the right fabric for yourself based on the following factors and enhance the wedding dress experience by a leap

- Weddings can be tiring. Choose from fabrics that are comfortable and those that do not wrinkle, crumple or crease easily. Crunchy light weight fabrics suit summer weddings but tend to get crumpled very easily.
- The type of weather you expect on wedding day should also be considered. You are not likely to enjoy your wedding day if you are sweating profusely or are feeling uncomfortably cold. Go for light weighted and breathable fabrics for a summer wedding and choose heavy fabrics like silk or satin if you are tying the knot in winter.
Besides these two, the other aspects that you need to keep in mind include:

- The fabric that you choose determines the way the gown will fall and the type of beadwork, embroidery or lacework that can be done on it.
- Each fabric has a distinctive and stylish elegance and it is important that you don't change the fabric once you have selected a fabric based on a particular style.

- Light weighted fabrics give a look of fullness as they are crispy and stand away from the body. However, some light weight fabrics like polyester cling to the body. Although these may allow you to flaunt your figure they may be uncomfortable in extreme hot conditions.

With these things in mind you can now make an intelligent choice with regard to the type of fabric that you want. Here is a short list of fibers and fabrics that are commonly used for wedding gowns.

- Polyester - Relatively low in price, polyester fiber is used to make pure polyester fabric. It can be blended with other various natural fibers to produce fabric that is easy to manage.
- Rayon – A synthetic silk-like fabric that is more elastic and is easily affordable.
- Batiste - A thin plain-weave cotton or linen fabric.
- Chiffon - A sheer fabric made from silk or rayon.
- Crepe - Lightweight fabric that has a wrinkled surface and may be made from man-made fibers or pure silk.
- Organza - Made of silk or a silk-like fabric and resembles organdy and tulle.
- Organdy - A semi-sheer muslin stiff fabric.
- Tulle - A fine starched netting similar to organza but stiffer and coarser.
- Damask - Medium weight fabric having a woven pattern.
- Peau de Soie - Medium to heavy closely-woven silk fabric, faced with satin on both sides.
- Silk: The most popular fabric for wedding gowns, soft and lustrous.
- Satin - A smooth fabric of silk or rayon that has a glossy face and a dull back. Silk Duchesse satin is light weighted as compared to pure satin. Satins may be pure silk or polyester.
- Dupioni - Thick and heavy 100% silk fabric and gives a perfect fall.

There is a wide variety to choose from and some of them may not have found mention in the above list. If you are choosing a blended fabric try to learn the percentage of fibers that has been used to produce it. The properties of the final fabric depend largely upon the properties of the major component. For example, if polyeste