sewing |

I remember on my wedding night a good friend came up to me at the reception and said “I LOVE your dress, it would be a beautiful baptismal gown” and that little seed was all I needed. I knew that my wedding dress was not going to get “preserved” in a box. But after our wedding night, I balled it up and threw (GASP– right?) it in a bag. A few months later I took it out of the bag and hung it up in my closet. About 2 months ago, I thought it was about time to jump into this project before it was too late. Since I hadn’t even had it cleaned, I did some research on how to do it myself. (For a tutorial on how to clean your own wedding dress without the hefty price tag go here). I decided it was time.

I should share a little story here. I have always been a thrifty girl and our wedding was no different. I bought my wedding dress from China for $20, I sent my measurements and it was made to fit me (not suggesting that I endorse 3rd world sweatshops, so be nice). With shipping and some minor alterations it came to about $200. (For more on some thrifty ideas from our DIY wedding go here). I have a hard time thinking my daughter would wear my dress when she got older. Who knew I’d even have a daughter. Who knows what the style would be in 20+ years, not to mention that I’d hate to impose my dress on my daughter for her wedding. Before I cut up my dress, I did remember to grab a few pictures of it (don’t mind that it was at work in the hallway).

Back of dress:

(the lighting wasn’t ideal, so I did some editing to this picture to help bring out the details a bit more)

Front:

Front of dress details:

Details of the train:

Thankfully I have a friend is a much more reliable sewer than I, who was willing to help a friend in need. She had a basic pattern (that we modified of course) to help us piece together the gown. Here’s a few pictures of the “during” process from wedding gown to baptismal gown. The first cut wasn’t as scary as the first attempt to sew a hem. Seriously my palms were sweating.

Today my wedding dress shares space between a pile of remaining fabric in a bag for something amazing in the future (not sure what that will be yet) and my daughter’s baptismal gown.

Despite my fear of sewing, I am very excited about how this turned out. While I tend to be the adventurous type, chopping up my wedding dress isn’t something that I do everyday, so I wanted to make sure every tidbit of fabric was used purposefully.

So there you have it. I challenged myself to tackle one scary thing, and am overjoyed with the results. I hope this gown will be one I can hand down to my grandchildren some day to keep the material items from our wedding alive for years to come.

Oh yes, my daughter in her baptismal gown…sure thing 🙂

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