How to find 2023’s perfect Communion Dress

Spring has sprung and, for many families in Ireland, it’s time to start preparing for 2023’s First Holy Communion. While the children work on their prayers and hymns, many parents are stressing themselves out trying to find the perfect communion dress or outfit.

We love the challenge of creating a truly special communion look. Every year our team of dressmakers produce or alter communion dresses to delight the children – and their parents – on their big day. Here’s our advice on finding that perfect fit for Communion Day 2023.

Designing a Communion Dress for any weather

While there are many standard ready-made dresses for sale in Irish shops, parents can struggle to find a comfortable and flattering outfit for their child’s size or shape. Often the girls have their own – very specific! – ideas on what they want to wear. It needs to be comfortable over a long day and there’s no way to know what the weather will be like – no wonder it is tricky shopping!

A made-to-measure outfit can help you create that dream dress look for the day, as well as ensuring the sizing is right for comfort and the fabrics are right to deal with the weather, whatever it’s like. The short sleeved dress on the girl on the left, below, was designed and made in our workshop. It has over 850 pearls sewn on to create the look they wanted. We also made a matching bolero style top so she was ready for anything in what can be changeable May weather.

A First Holy Communion dress can be started from scratch or some families choose to rework treasured outfits they already have. The elegant dress in the middle below, shown against a mirror, was made using Mummy’s wedding dress, giving a new lease of life to an already precious piece of family clothing.

What Communion Dress Alterations Can Be Made?

Any parent buying communion dresses has a dilemma – when to do it?  You don’t want to leave shopping to the last minute but you also know how quickly they can grow at this age.

The answer is a careful alteration by a skilled dressmaker, usually done about a month before the day. The lovely dress on the girl with a veil to the right needed to be altered to fit, which we did in our workshop, ensuring she looked lovely and felt comfortable on the day.

What communion dress alterations can be made? 

For most dresses, there are a lot of things that we can do;

• we can shorten the dress;
• change the size by taking it in or letting it out;
• remove sleeves or add them.
• We can add extra netting to create that “princess dress” volume or remove excess lining to reduce puffiness.

The two most common communion dress alterations questions we get are:

• Can communion dresses be taken out and by how much? Usually yes, most formal dresses have approximately 1″ seam allowance on each side. These can be undone and resewn so that the dress is let out and made a little bit bigger by a size or so. Anything larger than that is going to take more visible alterations, like adding a fabric panel or adding a zipper extender to the back of the communion dress.
• Can you add sleeves to a communion dress? Yes, or you can have them removed. You have plenty of options, including adding beaded cap sleeves and puff sleeves to change the shape of the dress.

Don’t stress the dress – talk to your dressmaker instead

Finding the perfect communion dress can feel difficult but it doesn’t have to be; just talk to an expert if you need to. You have plenty of options, outside of magically finding the perfect dress off the rack.

You can design your own, remake a family heirloom, or even can alter or amend shop-bought dresses to fit. You can shorten the dress, take it in or out, remove or add sleeves, and make it exactly as puffy as your little girl pleases.

So find a dressmaker you trust and book your appointment now. We always feel honoured when families entrust us with this special occasion – every year our team makes and alters many communion dresses for our little (and often demanding!) customers so they’re picture perfect for the occasion.

If you have concerns about your child’s dress or outfit, feel free to book a free consultation with us. We’ll know best about what can be done. And we wish you the very best of luck with finding your own perfect dress.