Can I dye my wedding dress another colour? (Pic included)

[LavenderHills]

I recently got married in the dress of my dreams. It's made of antique French cotton lace, fits me perfectly, and is just the most beautiful thing I've ever worn. I can't possibly part with it. Unfortunately, although it's a fairly casual wedding dress, it's still too obviously a bride's dress to wear to other social occasions.

I thought maybe I could have it dyed another colour? I'm a redhead, so perhaps a dark blue. Has anyone done this?
I'm loathe to ruin the dress, and I also don't want to have dye rubbing off on my skin, so any advice about where/how to get it dyed would be much appreciated!
(Ps. The photo is not of me, it's from the bridal shop website but my dress is almost identical.)

No advice but that is one gorgeous dress

Difficult, as often the threads won't dye, there is a high chance you will ruin it totally. Go to a dry cleaners that offer a tailoring service and ask if they do it, they should then be able to advise.

Thank you @Bluntness100, that is good advice. I'd hate to ruin it!

No idea, I'd definitely get a professional to do it. But it is a really, really beautiful dress.

Beautiful, really, I bet you looked stunning. Sorry, no advice re dye tho

I would ask the advice of the shop you bought it from as they'd either know or ask the actual designers who made it.

What a beautiful dress, I can see why you want to keep wearing it.

I agree there's a high chance the stitching won't dye. If you dyed it another very pale colour (e.g. silvery grey or pale pink) then it probably won't look so obvious if the stitching doesn't take. I've done that with a shirt and it looks fine - but then I wouldn't have been that upset if I'd ruined it. Agree about getting professional advice.

Alternatively are there other ways it could be customised it to make it look less bridal? Even if you just added a denim jacket that would tone it down immediately.

That is beautiful! I'm very jealous (I didn't much like my wedding dress). Agree with pps- not sure if you could dye.

Maybe shorten it? (Very beatiful by the way)

I'm not sure where you are in the country but if you google you should find a dying service near you. Otherwise these guys seems to cover the uk.

www.londondyers.co.uk

I think it usually synthetic materials (apart from rayon I think) that won't take dye. Natural materials (cotton etc) usually dye fine. Looking at what it is made out of may be a good first clue - but I'd still get advice from a good alteration place. You could have a situation where some parts will take the dye any others won't if there's is a mix of materials. It's a beautiful dress and would be a huge shame to ruin it

It seems a shame to die it in case it does get ruined. Great idea above to shorten it. You could save the fabric cut off to make a dress for a baby or a cushion cover or something.

I'd try and dye it a pale sage green. I agree about the thread, but if it's a pale colour it won't be noticeable.
If the dress is actual antique then the fabric and threads will all be natural and will take up due fine I would have thought.

*dye!

You're all lovely! Thank you for the excellent advice (and also the compliments on my beloved dress )

The consensus seems to be that I should consult the maker of the dress first, and then look at getting professionally dyed in a pale colour. It is antique handmade lace and is 100% cotton, so hopefully will respond well to dyeing if done properly.

It's so beautiful I'd look at shortening it to maybe knee length and keeping the offcut for something special

I love that dress!! Where is it from?

Beautiful dress. I would get it shortened and consider keeping it white. I think you could carry it off with a denim jacket and Birkenstocks on a summers evening. You'd definitely get some wear out if it if you attempted to wear it quite casual.

@SleepFreeZone it's from a small Australian bridal shop called Lost In Paris. You can google them or find them on Instagram. They do online fittings and ship worldwide.

Wow! What a beautiful dress. Hope whatever you decide to do works out for you.

I agree with retainertrainer and Catinthecorner about shortening it and using the offcut for something special.

Whilst the top layer might be cotton, the underneath bits especially the booby bits look like they would be some sort of synthetic.

And they need different sorts of dye...

Agree with what everyone has said about the different fabrics (and thread) taking the dye differently. Poly mix thread is the bane of clothes dying, as it never takes colour. If there is plenty of seam allowance you could cut a snippet out (including some of the stitching thread, so it needs to be somewhere you won't be left with a hole when you do that!), ensuring you have some of the lace and lining fabric, and do a test dye. I would contact the dressmakers to see what thread and lining they use too.

Shortening it sounds like a much more sensible solution, might make it more useful for parties etc too, and the colour wouldn't matter so much then.

I wonder if the original dressmakers would shorten it, to preserve any contrasting lace at the bottom - perhaps the whole thing can be taken apart at the waist and shortened from the top of the skirt rather than the bottom.

I've dyed lace and nylon underwear, tops and dresses and each time it has been beautiful. Because the materials take the dye in different ways it makes for a beautiful mix of shades of the color. I agree shorter then go for it.

Magical dress. Congratulations on your marriage.

I would be cautious about dye - it has never worked for me. I'd look at changing the belt trim, adding colour by hand (beads/sequins/ribbons), changing the underlining to a different colour, etc, possibly shortening it too. But chat to a dressmaker, they will have ideas.