Can I learn to embroider a celtic knot in three months? My wedding dress needs flair!

JFBird

I am reasonably crafty but have never embroidered before. My wedding is in a few months and we can only afford fairly simple things which is fine. I was thinking of trying to add some flair to my wedding dress by hand but don't want to ruin it. Does it seem reasonable I could do something to make my dress more celtic themed in three months? I can't sew at all. I am a terrible seamstress.

wmpdd3

In a word no!

But I'm always signing myself up for things like this, so if I had to do it, this would be my plan.

First, you need to know if your dress is suitable for embroidery, Where do you want the motif? Will you repeat it, where, how will you plan this. Is there something at the back of the place you want the motif, can you iron on stiffener?

You need a hoop, tapestry needles fabric and floss. Ask the shop to kit you out, should be about €15. I would try some simple stitches like chain st. See if you are able to control your tension, can you do this without disturbing the fabric.

If this goes well, try finding a motif, photocopying it and transferring it to the fabric in your hoop and try doing just the border. If this goes well fill in as you want the motif.

After all this, see if you can imagine doing this on your dress.

Time is the other issue, its takes me 4 hours to embroider an Irish emblem on a linen Christening gown, using 3 strands of floss. This would be about 80% of a 8" hoop.

JFBird

Thank you for your thoughtful and detailed response! This is exactly the advice I was looking for.
I haven't actually bought the dress yet so I am uncertain of the fabric, it's on its way being shipped to me.

I think what I might to is when I get the dress bring it into a seamstress and see if they have any suggestions for how I might add to it. If not it's fine. I just saw these handmade celtic dresses for sale in Scotland that brought out my secret repressed bridezilla but they're pretty much as expensive as my whole wedding.

I appreciate you providing guidance on the project should the material turn out to be suitable. You really helped me out.

TreasureBin

Have you thought about fabric paint, rather than embroidery? It would take less time.
I would still follow wmpdd3's advice re testing, use a hoop to stretch the fabric so the paint takes evenly, do the border first and then fill in. You could get an iron-on motif for Celtic embroidery that could also be used as a guide for painting - if your fabric can be ironed.