Wedding Dress Fabric Guide

Dress fabrics can always determine the appearance feeling of the wearer, like silk adds noblest and floating, chiffon adds elegance and romantic, satin adds modest, and taffeta adds shimmering.

If you know exact of a fabric by its appearance and meaning, it will be easier for you to choose a best dress for your event!

Our fabric guide will help you sort through the sea of dress styles by looking at the fabric part. But please be reminded that fabric is just one of the factors to determine a nice dress. You should combine all major factors like style, body shape, color, price and etc, all together to find your dream dress!

Silk
The cherished, and priciest wedding gown fabric, silk is a smooth and soft natural fiber. Silk threads are woven to create tons of other fabrics - such as satin, duchesse satin, shantung, charmeuse, chiffon, organza and even tulle. Remember, silk fabric is valuable though, it’s not suitable for every dress style. You should consult with the tailor first before determine silk for a special dress pattern. It’s recommended to use silk fabrics for sheath, column, or empire dresses.

Satin
The most common fabric used in wedding gowns, satin is a densely woven silk with a lustrous sheen on one side. Satin is widely used for every type of dress styles.

Chiffon
Soft, sheer, and transparent or semi-transparent, chiffon can be made from silk (more expensive) or rayon (more affordable). Due to its delicate transparency, chiffon is often layered and is popular for sleeves, overskirts, and wraps. Not just for bridal gowns, chiffon also appears in evening dresses and scarves. Chiffon could often bring floating, lightweight and romantic feeling. It’s beloved to sheath, column stylish dresses

Taffeta
A crisp, smooth and light-weave fabric with a slight rib, taffeta is made from silk or synthetic fibers. As taffeta fabric is kinda shimmering, it’s often used for ball gowns and evening dresses.

Tulle
A lightweight, extremely fine, machine-made netting, usually with a hexagon shaped mesh effect. End-uses include dance costumes and bridal veils. Tulle is often used for skirts and veils.

Organza
A crisp, sheer, lightweight plain weave fabric made of silk, rayon, nylon, or polyester. In silk, the stiffness comes from the natural gum that remains on the fibers after processing. In man made fibers, the stiffness is engineered. In bridal gowns with an overskirt, organza is a beautiful choice, having just enough body to stand out yet still move nicely. In bridal gowns that have large puffy sleeves, an interlining of organza will hold the shape without adding bulk. It is also used as an interfacing where sheerness is a factor.

You may often see some other fabrics like chameuse, shantung, duchesse and etc. They are branches of the fabrics introduced above, just differs in weave density.