Converted Wedding Dress Pillow

A client asked me to make a decorative pillow and garter out of her wedding dress. She was married in the 1970s and her dress was modestly beaded and simple. Her daughter is getting married and she plans to use the pillow in the ceremony to hold the rings. The pillow features the bodice front. I padded out the bust slightly to give it extra contour. The pillow has a cotton foundation,an invisible zipper, and down filled pillow form. The garter is made from the gowns bottom edge and the lace was taken from the veil. The fabric flower in the picture is my own additional embellishment.

Holiday Stocking with chenille

Using faux chenille strips, I have embellished repurposed wedding dress stockings.

Bridal Keepsake Wall Hangings

Here is a collection of small wall hangings made from wedding dresses. Black crepe is used to add contrast. All are experiments. One uses an entire sleeve turned upside down which serves as a pictorial vase.

Tree Skirt Number Two

This is my second holiday tree skirt made from a wedding dress. Giving a nuptial dress new life and function after the wedding, is a current interest of mine. The tree skirt starts as a quilt, three layers: the first cotton, the second a thin cotton batting, and the third a textured dress crepe. I machined quilted through the layers in a meandering free motion design. By dropping the feed dogs on the sewing machine and using a darning foot, you can guide the layers at will. Next, I dismantled the dress bodice and cut apart the best features: center front, sleeves, and large bustle bow. These pieces were hand mounted to the tree skirt at the quarter hour positions. The center front bead work was three dimensional due to the bust. To accommodate the extra fabric I stuffed the breast cavity in a trapunto style. I created flower rosettes in a yo-yo fashion and covered the closure with dress lace and beading. These flowers were hand mounted on the tree skirt in between each dress piece and at the center front neck line. Lastly I edged the entire tree skirt with 1 inch faux fur. The tree skirt's radius measures 34 inches and it is true white in color. The entire project has about 10 hours of labor.

Connie's Dress

Connie gave me her first wedding dress, a simple, elegant, cotton sheer gown. Fabric covered buttons adorned the neck and center front surrounded by an eyelet lace inset. Matching lace and covered button also completed long cuffs at the wrist.

Connie was married in the 1970s and the dress represents well flower child innocence. When she came to me, she had just lost her second husband to unexpected death. Her eyes brim with tears as she hands the dress over to me. She tells me as soon as she cleans out her bedroom closet, she’ll have another one because she has no need of it anymore. Grief leaks from her eyes as she says these words. She is utterly lost and doesn’t know what to do.

A wedding dress is always a beginning point. The bride is like the tarot’s fool who sets out on an unknown journey, not really knowing what she is getting herself into. One never knows what will come of a marriage or a life. There is so much expectation, anticipation, hope, blissful ignorance, and dreams donned when one puts on a wedding dress. When Connie looks back over her life, since her weddings, she thinks, “I never knew…… my life would turn out this way”. Many of us can say the same. Connie will rebuild herself, women always do. She will put herself back together and maybe she will even have another beginning point, another dress to mark in time a new life, new opportunity, new hope.

From Connie’s wedding dress, I made a holiday stocking featuring the center front covered buttons and eyelet lace panel. The original neckline is maintained, buttoned and filled with fabric flowers. An origami flower fits into the neck and is studded with beads and surrounded with rolled greens. Crinoline softens the dark velvet green ribbon accenting the top of the stocking. Roses, once the dress ties, are wrapped tightly in flower form. Beading adorns the toe, arch, and heel. Surprisingly, cream or the candlelight color of the dress had trouble standing on its own. It really needed an additional color to give the stocking a slight lift, hence the green choice.

Repurposed.... Angel # 2

Angel #2
The tree topper idea continues with a second angel. It also begins as a flat half circle. There are 4 layers stacked: crepe, 2 layers of batting, and muslin. It is quilted and shaped into a cone base to form the angel. This tree topper features asymmetrical designs both front and back. The seam of the cone is hidden first with a 3-demensional rose ribbon trim that follows the seam diagonally from the front to the back. On the lower cone front a fabric folded origami flower, studded centrally with beads is placed slightly off center and balanced with two rose ribbon flowers on its lower left side. A silver leaf trim also runs at a slight angle off to the right side of the cone front. On the back of the angel, beaded bridal lace salvaged from sleeves of a wedding dress is placed in pieces starting at the lower left side and wrapped around to just beyond the cone’s center back meeting the rose ribbon flower trim. The wings are constructed in one piece, quilted in free motion style and edged with fur. The wing attaches to the upper cone back and is blended with a small piece of beaded bridal lace. Wings are secured to each side of the angel. A 3 dimension curve in the wings is attained by a subtle gathering stitch along the side edge, hidden by the fur trim and basted in place. Fur trim also edges the bottom of the cone and an heirloom spoon represents the angel’s material form.

Repurposed.... Angel # 1

Angel #1
Forging ahead with the repurposed wedding dress idea, I currently am tinkering with a tree topper. This tree topper is in the form of an angel and started as a flat half circle, 4 layers stacked: crepe, 2 layers of batting, and muslin. I chose the extra batting layer to add stability, as it eventually will bear its own weight in the shape of a cone. The layers are quilted together with a free motion stippling pattern and the raw edges serged. The beaded lace embellishment is a single piece and comes from a wedding dress’ center front, shoulders and closure of the neck back. The center front of the bodice was placed on the upper center front of the quilted cone. Beading and lace cascades diagonally on each side of the cone's center front, exposing the meandering quilt design. The lace and beaded bodice piece wraps around the cone and doubles back upon itself to form wings. The piece then meets itself again at the center back of the cone where the original fabric covered buttons and loops of the dress’ back neck line connect. Crinoline from a nuptial underskirt was used vertically to fill out the wing pockets. Fur edges the lace diagonally and at the lowest cone edge. An unpolished heirloom spoon acts as the angel’s likeness.

A Few More Ornaments

Holiday Ornaments, Keepsakes from a Wedding Dress

My most recent wedding dress experiments are holiday ornaments, continuing in the same theme as the tree skirt and stocking. All but one resembles a lantern. The lanterns start off as a quilted rectangle of the dress fabric, batting, and cotton backing. I use free motion quilting to secure all the layers and add depth to the lantern’s surface. For further embellishment, I add bridal laces salvaged from collected nuptial gowns. I also include additional purchased trim like cording, fur, rickrack, fringe, and pompoms to widen the variety of texture. After all the embellishment is complete, the rectangle is stitched into a cylinder form and hanging loops are attached. The medallion ornament is a quilted circle draw up into a yoyo. Lace is placed at the center of each side and fur stitched to the circumference. The medallion is a striking tree decoration and was the simplest to make. What surprised me the most was the amount of hand sewing I incorporated into the project. The lantern facing, hanging straps, lace, beading, and some trim required hand work.

I like the idea of a lantern for a repurposed wedding dress because it reminds me of the biblical parable of virgins lighting lamps. A wedding dress is a symbol, ritual, and a turning point in a woman’s life. The cultural image symbolizes she is on the cusp of a new identity. A lantern is a useful tool to help one find their way in the dark. Connecting the wedding dress and a lantern symbol could be a meaningful image or memory of a life changing event. The image of light in the darkest time of the year is also significant and could be expanded upon.

I continue to get more ideas for what wedding dresses could be. At present I'm following my holiday theme. Soon to come, my next wedding dress project is a tree topper.

Wedding Dress Turned Holiday Stocking

Have you ever considered another purpose for your wedding dress? Wait, do you remember where you put your wedding dress? It’s probably in storage, in a box, in the attic or hanging in some forgotten closet. A wedding dress after the ceremony doesn’t have to be forgotten, it can be a remade memory. Consider this example; transform the dress into keepsake holiday or Christmas stockings. Stockings, hung by the chimney with care, made from your nuptial gown could connect the family with what was once anticipated in a wedding, to what, in the present, is celebrated at each year’s end: hope, joy, and love.

This stocking was made from a white, crepe, gown with a narrow, straight skirt. The bodice and sleeves were heavily adorned with lace and beading mounted on netting. A light weight batting was used between the crepe and the lining to draw more contrast from the free motion quilting. The lace was cut away from the net sleeves and re-appliquéd to the stocking front. Sculpted lace from another dress was used to accent the heel and toe of the stocking. Ribbon and straight lace trim were used to vary the adornment of the stocking middle and add contrast and direction to the design. For further texture, the top of the stocking is trimmed in fur. The stocking measures 20 inches long and the foot, 13 inches wide. An elegant dress turned into an elegant stocking. The wedding dress finds new life in a yearly ritual of fun, much better than being stuck in a box.

A Wedding Dress' Second Chance to Shine

One way to repurpose a wedding dress is to transform it into a keepsake Christmas tree skirt. The tree skirt should high light the dress’ best features. This dress, picked up at a local thrift shop, had a lovely beaded Venetian appliquéd lace panel on the center front of the bodice. It had complimentary lace windowed panels in the sleeve head as well as a large bow at the back waist line. The satin was off white with a shadow print pattern of roses and scrolling ribbons. It was an average looking dress and I like it better as a keepsake tree skirt. The dress yielded only enough to make the top of the tree skirt and I added lining and an inner layer. I also purchased extra trim to add texture and complexity to the original dress elements. I was hoping to make Christmas stockings to match the tree skirt but there just was not enough dress.

The newly made tree skirt highlights the center front bodice at 6 o’clock. The neckline is ornamented with the dress’ scalloped lace, shaped to form a dangling necklace. At 3 and 9 o’clock the sleeve panels are mounted. At 2, 4, 7 & 10 o’clock a decorative free motion stippling was applied to the plain satin. Narrow lace trim also radiates out at the same locations. The circumference is trimmed in a faux fur strip which also covers the opening edges at 12 o’clock. A closure is created with the large bow snapped at the center opening. My favorite element in this tree skirt is texture. When color is absent, texture takes over to add interest. Between the fur, stippling, lace, and beads, the eye has plenty of entertainment. This tree skirt has given new life to a garment that needed a second chance to shine

Do We Dare? A Wedding Gown Repurposed

A dark lid boxes in a woman’s most anticipated and painstakingly planned formal gown. Many married women when asked what has become of their wedding dress answer with one of three words: storage, closet, or box. Some believe they are saving their nuptial gown for a future landmark anniversary or perhaps a daughter’s far away wedding. However most dresses for various reasons do not make it to these ends. Maybe they are taken out once or twice in a life time to share with admiring eyes. Memories and details are recounted, if you’re lucky, for an afternoon and then the dress is returned to its tomb. With so much “to do” surrounding the wedding dress before the wedding, it’s a shame that it is forgotten so quickly.

But could there be another way? Could the wedding dress continue to transfer meaning and beauty after the wedding as well, and maybe even for a life time? One way to extend the function of a wedding dress is repurposing. After adorning a beautiful bride a wedding dress can be transformed to communicate the love and commitment begun in a formal ceremony. A gown can be remade to serve in a new capacity. Be it functional or ornamental, a wedding dress can be part of a marriage and family for more than just a few hours or days of a life time. A repurposed dress can extend a wedding’s magic and meaning.