If you’ve come here by way of the BERNINA wedding dress challenge, hello! I was very lucky and was asked to contribute a customer’s wedding dress upcycle for the current BERNINA promotion. Photos of the dress and a description of the competition are available on the WeAllSew.com site!
The owner of the dress that is featured, Jen, got married in the 1990s, and her dress was made out of beautiful Italian dupioni silk. She had a seamstress from Milwaukee, OR, make it for her, and I was so glad to open up the dress and see the incredible job the sewist had done. The craftsmanship that went into her dress was exceptional, with lots of handwork and precisely sewn seams.
Jen had a unique vision for her dress. She wanted to remove any parts of the dress that dated it so she could once again wear it. Not for another wedding (she’s still happily married to the same wonderful man), but to other dressy events. She decided that she also wanted overlays made for the dress, to help show it off while giving it vintage flair. Before that could be done though, details such as the sleeves, shawl collar, extra length, inner arm elastic, button loops and a large back bow needed to be removed, along with the sides taken in and straps made.
After quite a few hours of work and fittings, the dress was changed from a wedding dress…
… to a dress that could be worn to any special event. Please know that in the above “after” photos, the armholes haven’t been finished yet- that required one more fitting! Also, the dress needs steamed- silk doesn’t really enjoy being put in a bag and transported for photos!
I finished one overlay for the dress that I’ll post tomorrow, so be sure to look for it!
*The above photos are courtesy of Ravyn Stadick, of Jim and Ravyn Photographers, and are used with her permission.
