Hello Everyone!
Since last week was my 29th anniversary, I thought it was a great time to share my wedding dress refashion for newcomers to my site.
Do you remember how you felt in your wedding dress? I felt like a total princess! I never went the route that most brides these days do. There was no dress shopping for me. Shortly after I became engaged, I took a trip back to my hometown of Milwaukee and promptly took my mother’s wedding dress out of the attic. It was in beautiful shape, and once I tried it on I had a vision of what I wanted. From that moment, it was my dress. Don’t get me wrong, it did need a lot of work. Here is the story…
As I move forward to my 30th anniversary I have started to think about what to do with my dress. The fabric is still so beautiful. I thought about giving it to a place that makes angel gowns for infants who are stillborn. Another idea was to make christening gowns for my future grandchildren.
I asked my boys what they prefered, and they want me to hold off on donating, They feel that a christening gown would be a good idea, but they want to check it out with their future brides. So, for the time being I will keep it. I have a good idea that my dress still has a great future in store. Whatever I choose I know my mother would be proud.
I would love to know if any of you have made or upcycled your wedding gowns. What is your story?
Hope you are all well!
You and your mom were both beautiful brides. I love your refashion, your dress looks very current for the time with those big puffy sleeves. I have been married twice. First time I made my own dress from a Vogue pattern with 87 steps…………it was beautiful but I donated it to the thrift store after the divorce because I did not need those bad memories. The second time I bought a gorgeous dress at a bridal store and it still remains packed from the cleaners in a box. I do have two daughters and will see if they ever want it.
Thank you so much for your comments Ami. Our wedding dresses are such an emotional part of our lives. I am glad that my sons are interested in seeing it used in another family tradition.
I loved hearing about your wedding dresses!
Wow!! That is Beautiful, you did an amazing job, please tell me that you have a Daughter!!
So that she can pass on the tradition, if not hopefully Your granddaughter or the lucky Daughter in law Would love to where you’re beautiful re-creation
🥰
Thank you Jeralyn,
No, unfortunately I don’t have a daughter but I honestly think christening gowns are going to be the answer. Hope you are doing well.
Love the little changes you did to keep her dress. I wore my mother’s dress as is since I am not as talented as you. Mom was married in 1954 and 32 years later I wore the same dress. Love it. I have it in the closet but since we didn’t have children I don’t know what I will do with it.
Hi Joanne,
There is a place here in California that uses dresses to make angel gowns to bury premature infants. The place I know of will even send you pictures of the finished gown. It is very impactful. Maybe you have something like this in your area.
You did a wonderful refashion of your mom’s dress. You both were beautiful brides. I really wanted to wear my mom’s dress, but it was not to be. She loaned it to her younger sister for her wedding and never got it back. Since then my cousins had used it as a costume more than once. They even used it on horseback for some 4H function. After they got done abusing it they threw it away. My dress is carefully packed away, for what I don’t know.
Hi Laurie,
I am so sorry about that. I hope the dress you eventually used was beautiful. I am sure you will find something good to do with it. Look at all of the stories here!
I wore my grandmother’s wedding dress which my mom also wore. It was all cotton and cotton lace. Both of my girls are much bigger framed than I was so they weren’t able to wear it. Sadly it’s disintegrating in my cedar chest. Before my mom died she gave my oldest daughter a cloth doll she had when she was young. Poor dolly had no clothes so my daughter and I decided to use what was salvageable from the wedding dress to a dress for the doll. My daughter has a friend who makes costumes in New York who offered to do the designing and sewing. Hopefully this will take place when things get better. I can’t wait to see the outcome.
Hi Mary,
What a great story! That is a wonderful way to use the bits that are left over. Depending on how much you have maybe you might have enough for some Christmas ornaments!
Lovely refashion. After getting approval from our 3 brothers, my sister and I made small sachets from what undamaged fabric we could get from Mom’s dress. We made small patchwork hearts so we could include a small piece of lace, a satin covered button, and a piece of our Dad’s red silk tie in each of them. We made 22 of them to get to all of the Grands, and Great Grands families. With remaining scraps, my sister and I made a stuffed rabbit and bear, both wearing a dress with remaining pieces of Dad’s tie and some of Mom’s netting from her veil.
Hi Donna,
What a lovely idea. I will do something like this with the scraps when I make the christening gowns. Thank you for your story.