I picked up the dresses on Friday, and they look fabulous! She pressed them for me, so the silk dupioni is beautifully crisp rather than very wrinkly like in my previous post. The quality of work is good, and she nailed the design from one image each of the front and back that I provided.
Sorry, LA girls, Laura Bravo is out of north OC, but worth the drive. My two local bridesmaids who live in K-town didn’t mind the two drives they had to make down on Saturday mornings (no traffic time!), though. I found a few other seamstresses closer to LA proper, but they were around $75-90 for labor on the dresses only. Still not bad at all, for a custom dress, but we couldn’t beat $50 per dress. One caveat, though, the cost will definitely depend on your specific design.
She prefers to measure your girls (or you) herself, but she did make my NYC bridesmaid’s dress from measurements her NYC tailor took, and we e-mailed to Laura. She then has the dresses pretty much done a couple of weeks before the wedding, and your bridesmaids come in again to try them on. Ours fit my bridesmaids perfectly, and the only adjustment we needed was to the length of the sash, which she left long on purpose in case we wanted to tie them into bows as I hadn’t specified. This saved my girls some money, too, since alterations are pretty much included.
Laura gets very busy in during the summer months, so I’d advise going to see her months in advance. Especially since you need time for either you or her to shop for fabric and notions. I brought her the fabric, lining, and zippers at our first visit for the quote, and had her provide boning, interfacing, and other notions that I didn’t feel confident shopping since I cannot sew for the life of me. If you give her a swatch or an idea of what you want, she will shop it for you, but she prefers brides find their own fabric so that she knows it’s exactly what you want, and not just what she happened to find from her sources that is as close as she could get.
Lastly, it’s best to call her after 7 PM on weeknights, as she does this from a workshop behind her house. She rarely checks e-mail, and only gave it to me for purposes of getting her my OOT bridesmaid’s measurements. She prefers to do fittings on weekends, but she is very flexible and easy to work with. I am definitely using her in the future for custom dresses and would highly recommend her.
Laura Bravo
Midway City (adjacent to Westminster)
714.897.5635
Thanks for the recommendation! About how many months did Laura need to get everything done?
We got the girls measured about 3.5 months before my wedding. It took her about 3 months total to make everything, but that’s because my wedding was near the tail end of the summer wedding season, and she was pretty much almost all booked up already. I’d suggest going to see her 4-6 months ahead, especially if you don’t yet have fabric. She can tell you after the first visit how much you’ll need, if you’re going to shop it yourself.
i’m thinking of updating my mother’s wedding dress. do you think she can do something like this?
What was the total cost per dress, including fabric, notions, labor, etc?
aeodorothee, all i saw hanging in her workroom were mostly formal and bridesmaids dresses. you should probably call her to see if she even does that kind of work ahead. i know the woman doing my gown’s alterations definitely could - check out weddingalterations.com. mahtab has been great so far. i’ll be writing a full review after i pick up my dress later this week.
moni, here’s the cost breakdown:
labor to make dresses: $45
extra charge for laura to provide boning & interfacing: $5
dress fabric (aqua): $10/yd. 4 yards needed per dress.
dress contrast fabric (duchess blue): $0. free remnant a work vendor gave me. 1 yard needed per dress.
dress lining: $0. free, again the same above work vendor gave me some remnants. 4 yards needed per dress. you can find basic lining/muslin for $2-3 a yard at joann, and use a sunday paper 40% off coupon to minimize this cost, or even have her provide it.
ykk brand zippers: $3 each.
my total cost: $93
part of the reason mine did come in so inexpensively is the free material i got. i also got my fabric at wholesale cost, although you can find similar fabric downtown for the same price or cheaper, sold to the general public, if you’re not as particular with color as i was. however, i’ve had a friend use her, too, and she found cheap fabric and lining downtown, so her dresses came out to about $100 as well. hope this helps!
thanks so much for all the info! thanks for the fabric info too. i do have access to some wholesale vendors so im gonna see what i can find that way and then look into your seamstress.
I’ve bee dress-shopping and I notice that my dress preferences tend to be simple if poufy, and I’m thinking of just showing a design to a tailor and getting him/her to make it for me. I don’t know. Would you recommend either Mahat or Laura for that kind of work, as well? Thanks very much.
[...] Bridesmaids] Dress: Custom, based on Watters #7415 Custom made by Laura Bravo. Some process shots. Fabric: Soft aqua silk dupioni + French blue silk dupioni purchased wholesale [...]
Hi Ms. Lime!
I absolutely LOVE the color of your bridesmaid dresses.I wanted a blueish green color, and that french blue that you choose is perfect! I live in OC myself and was wondering where you were able to buy the fabric wholesale?
AJ, I have no idea the real source as I bought it through a drapery workroom I work with. He has a ton of fabric suppliers (in LA, not OC, where I work), and he didn’t tell me which one he got them from, unfortunately.
Also to clarify, the French blue is the contrast hem and underside of the sashes. The main fabric was called something else, although I don’t remember.
Sorry I’m not much help! Try hitting up the downtown fashion district and bringing a swatch of the color you’re looking for.
Mrs. Lime, Los Angeles
Age and Occupation in 06: 25, Design
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, IT
Engagement Date: July 7, 2006
Wedding Date: August 5, 2007
Venue: An historic estate
About Me: Between work and wedding planning, I try to squeeze in napping, drawing, random spurts of craftiness, tennis, and eating lots of Sprinkles cupcakes, dark chocolate, and noodles of all kinds. Mr. Lime and I have spent our adult lives growing up together, and we're very excited to finally be getting married!
North OC is totally not a problem for me, since I”m on the border of LA and OC counties! I’m definitely gonna call her! Many thanks Ms. Lime!