Wedding Dress Transformation

Here's my gorgeous daughter on her wedding day, in Queenstown, New Zealand. We all travelled over for the most wonderful family holiday. Now you can see the wedding dress I've been talking about. No, I didn't make this dress.

Tasha came up with the crazy idea that I could turn this dress into a formal day dress. Come on Mum, you can do it. You just have to cut it here, sew this here.... do this... and this..... as she held the dress and a piece of denim in front of the mirror. My non-sewing daughter convinced me that she wasn't going to wear it again and it would just sit unused in her wardrobe for the rest of its life. So, with a little trepidation, I cut the dress.

Tasha had remembered that I had a piece of lightweight stretch denim in my stash and that's what we used for the bottom of the dress.

So, I sewed this.... and this.... did this.... and this... until it started to take shape. Tasha designed and I sewed. Having a designer who doesn't sew, meant that the sequence of sewing, wasn't necessarily in a conventional order. Ideas changed and evolved. There was lots of unpicking.

The process would have been a lot quicker, had I known how to draft a dress pattern. I'm perfectly happy making bags without a pattern. Draw a few sketches, do the Maths and it usually works out fine. But when the sewing has to fit a person, that's another story. Especially when the design is close fitting. There's little room for error.

I found that when I altered one thing, it affected the shape or fall of the fabric somewhere else. At one point, when the dress wasn't hanging properly, I found that the measurements from the zip to the side seams were not equal, by a substantial amount. Consequently, the seam allowance on one side is miniscule. 

In the end, it all worked out. It's definitely not perfect, but we are both very happy with the end result. We most definitely worked well as a team. Tasha is thrilled that she was able to wear her wedding dress, to the wedding of close friends.

A new dress needs a matching purse, also made from the wedding dress.

I'm sure you are wondering what's to become of the rest of the wedding dress. Hmmmm... We're thinking a tutu and perhaps a fairy dress some time in the future. No, not for Tasha and most definitely not for me.

My daughter has just told me her next crazy idea. She wants me to turn this newly made dress into a top for a less formal occasion. Come on Mum, you can do it. You just have to cut it here, take the denim from the bottom and make it into straps..... She says as she looks at me with her big, blue eyes. How can I resist? Only thing is, she wants it for the middle of December... LOL!!! Stay tuned..... 

Edited to add:

• Read about our wedding dress transformation from Tash's perspective.
• Those big, blue eyes won out and the wedding dress was transformed yet again. Read about it here.

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