Liu Lu spent 20 days of the month before her wedding making her own dress.

The 30-year-old took a course at Jiaran Studio in Beijing. And with the trainer's help, she handmade her strapless fishtail wedding dress from scratch.

"It was a tough 20-day mission, from measurements to buying materials to embroidering patterns to making the fishbone. Every step needed meticulous effort," Liu recalls.

She believes the wedding-dress course is meaningful for people who want to make their own gowns. And it can help people in costume design and production to better understand haute couture.

Embroidery artist and costume designer Shi Jiaran founded the studio in 2013. It trains students with zero knowledge of needlework to make such special garments as wedding dresses and qipao.

The novel coronavirus outbreak has pushed her in-person courses online, enabling her to reach people around the country.

The latest online course shows how to embroider camellia flowers, which requires the skill Shi learned from stitching French-style camellias.