As a photographer I am always tempted to purchase the most gorgeous gowns for my clients. Big tulle gowns, form fitting, mermaid, flowy chiffon, give me ALL THE GOWNS!! Something that doesn’t get much credit until recently is draping flowy fabric. By itself it can hang or be tossed, or lay the subject on top of it, there are any number of ways it can be used. After ordering some soft tulle from a vendor, I was playing around with ways to drape on my mannequin when it hit me! I could cut my mesh/tulle fabric to make it look like gowns I have seen from some of my favorite vendors. All I would need were scissors and a way to tie the pieces together (twist ties, wire, hair ties, rope, whatever works). 

Originally I ordered 7 yards/6.4 meters (21 ft, or 252 inches) which provided a little more than what I needed to get two panels (front and back) for one side of my faux gown. I started by measuring from the top shoulder of my mannequin to the ground where I wanted the dress to land. I added about 12 extra inches for the bump, as well as factoring in I wanted the fabric to go beyond the floor in case my subject is tall. I should note my mannequin height was set somewhere around 5’8″, so again, the fabric extended past that at the bottom. I love having fabric to play with on the ground, or leave it pooling around the subject. Once I had my front panel and back panels cut I used my twisty tie to gather the material at one end and laid it on the shoulder of the mannequin.

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At this point you can also cut a strip of fabric for a belt in order to cinch the fabric at the waistline.

I purchased more fabric from the vendor in order to create the other panels on the opposite side. In total I had 14 yards/12.8 meters (42 ft, 504 inches) to create this piece. This is a soft tulle so it isn’t as bulky as a regular tulle I think.

Here is a video explaining how I created another gown using a red “power mesh” fabric (orange fabric in the video). This fabric has a bit more weight to it than the soft tulle shown in the photos above. I also explain how you can create more panels for more coverage, or using less fabric.