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Your wedding dress is quite often the one item we spend the most money on in our lifetime, but is also the one item that gets worn the least.
Often forgotten and left in the back of wardrobes for years, this hidden treasure could have more exciting fabric in it than anything else in your wardrobe – as well as being packed full of happy memories and steeped in your own personal history. Let’s delve into its potential, and explore ideas you can try on your old gown, to get it out of the attic and back into your life.
Some brides choose to sell, donate, rent out or even frame their old wedding dresses, and there is nothing wrong with simply keeping it tucked safely in a tissue lined box. But if you are tempted to repurpose it, let’s look at four ways you can do this.
Colour change
- Before starting, put a photo of your dress, (one from your wedding album is fine), in a free colour change app like Pixelcut. This will show you by changing the colour whether your gown will become a knock-out evening dress that you’ll wear, or still look like an old wedding dress which has just been dyed!
- If you do decide to dye your dress so you can wear it again, the label should tell you if the fabric is natural (e.g. silk or viscose), or synthetic (e.g. polyester or acetate) so you can choose a suitable dye. I recommend either Ritmore synthetic or iDye Poly for synthetics, and for natural fibres, choose between Dylon and even tea, berries or flowers! Follow the instructions on the packet, and before you start, be sure to do a test patch on a small area of your dress that you’re intending to remove – e.g. the train.
- An environmentally-friendly alternative to dyeing is fabric paint. Try Dye Na Flow, which has the consistency of an ink. You can literally paint the colour onto your dress. If you mix the paint with the recommended Airfix additive, it will dry colourfast without you ever having to get your dress completely wet. This is ideal if the label says dry clean only, and you’re worried about shrinkage.
Restyling
- Begin by turning your dress inside out and see how it’s constructed. Have a rifle through the layers of your dress and try and spot any easy alterations. Could you remove the train and simply shorten it? Look out for a horizontal join at the waist. If there is one, consider separating the bodice from the lower part of your dress, and turning it into a skirt:
(A) To create a simple skirt, remove the petticoat if there is one, add a waistband, and use any remaining fabric from the bodice for a clutch bag.
(B) For extra versatility, make a multiway piece where the top edge of the skirt, once removed from the bodice, is finished with an adjustable trim so it can be worn as a skirt, a dress or a top.
- Don’t be afraid to unpick the dress completely and harvest the beautiful fabric ready for making into something new. Free your imagination and look beyond a christening gown, which is the traditional destination of an old wedding dress. Examples I tried for my book include:
(A) Lingerie – Charlotte Havard of Wishanger Bespoke, transformed an old lace bolero into a stunning bra and briefs, as well as a camisole. You can go on a lingerie-making course yourself, or commission a bespoke set of smalls from your wedding dress fabric.
(B) Jumpsuit – this glamorous transformation has an elasticated waist and could be repurposed yet again in the future to become a separate blouse and trousers.
Refabrication
This is when you transform the leftover bits of your wedding dress, like the offcuts produced from restyling it, and turn them into new fabric to use for something else.
1 Knitting and crochet are exciting ways of repurposing your dress, and involve cutting the lighter-weight fabrics of your dress into narrow strips, and tying the strips together to make ‘bridal yarn’. Wind the yarn into a ball and use it to knit or crochet anything you would like from a jumper or scarf, to a Christmas bauble!
2 Weaving has great potential for using up leftover scraps of a wide variety of fabrics that might be in your dress. There are many weaving workshops you can take part in. Professional weaver Mairi Gillies created a beautiful cushion out of a few scraps I sent her, leftover from a variety of restyling transformations.
3 Patchwork – Sewing small uniform or random pieces of your wedding dress together to create a new fabric will allow you to make just about any item you wish from it. Dungarees? An evening gown? Perhaps a cushion? Maybe a baby blanket?
4 Distressing – The main advantage of this method is that it stops a wedding dress fabric looking so obviously “bridal” and thereby more wearable. I tried fraying the edges of a number of pieces for the book and also used sandpaper on a matt satin, as a bit of an experiment. Happily, it turned the satin into suede with a gorgeous texture!
Keepsakes
These special items can be displayed in your home or given to others as a gift, and will become family heirlooms of the future.
1 Lavender hearts – So easy to make. Use a part of your dress with some detail, such as pleating on the bodice as a feature, and stuff the heart with dried lavender. Hung in a linen cupboard, it makes a beautiful touch-point as well as smelling wonderful.
2 Mice – There’s something very special about making a soft toy from your wedding dress for a baby or small child who might not have been at your wedding. You may be part of their personal history, so why not create a precious memento and a link to you and your special day?
3 Lampshade – The main purpose of a lampshade is to diffuse the light from a bulb and wedding dress fabric is ideal for this. You can go on a lampshade-making course, or commission a bespoke maker like Marie Clavis, who took some of my leftover lace, dyed it with tea and turned it into the example shown below.
4 Christmas baubles – Each year when you dress your Christmas tree, imagine unpacking your own handmade baubles, created from your wedding dress, each one unique and full of memories? I made simple shapes from panels, stuffed them with offcuts, and decorated them with leftover beads and lace. Not just beautiful ornaments, these would be unique and meaningful gifts for your loved ones.
Words: Caroline Arthur. Photography: all fashion images by Andrea Verenini
Inspired to get your dress out of the loft? Caroline’s book Relovable is available to order from carolinearthur.com and is the perfect wedding gift for a bride to be
Feel inspired to upcycle some preloved items in your wardrobe in something band new? Find some great ideas in our Guide to Upcycling Your Wardrobe eBook and do your bit to prevent clothing from going to waste.
