Saturday, June 10, 2017

Ongoing Projects: A Gown

For a very long time I have been wanting to do something with my wedding gown.  It is 48 years old this year.  It has been in several different boxes over the years, it finally ended up in the Cedar Chest upstairs. 

I bought a pattern for a long baptismal gown for a baby several years ago.  It has been on my “to do list.”

I finally took it out of hiding on May 31st.

old dress

It was very wrinkled.  Far Guy said “shouldn’t you iron it?”

Nah…

I will take a photo of it outside…maybe it will look better.

Old wedding dress

Nope still wrinkled.  Well I wasn’t going to iron it just for a photo.  After all I was going to throw it into the washer in cold water and hope it would hold together and not be just a bunch of unreconizable threads.

Deep breath.

It worked…it held together..now into the dryer keeping my fingers crossed.

That worked too.  Now to rip out some seams.  I called Jo and said “Got a seam ripper?”  She said “Sure what kind of trouble are you in now?  I will be right over.”

We ripped out seams and pinned the pattern on that first afternoon and cut out all the pieces.  The second afternoon we sewed some of it together.  The third afternoon it was all done except for some by hand stitching. I finished the hand stitching yesterday!  It was an adventure. Niether of us want to do a repeat anytime soon.  Jo is a much better seamstress than I am.

Cristening gown 

It is a baptismal gown and a cap.  I need to get blue ribbon to string in the cap for the ties instead of white.  Far Guy hauled out the ironing board and I pressed the entire gown….my old iron is practically an antique but it worked well enough to get out the wrinkles!

Hey Mikey your gown is done

The skirt of my gown was just perfect to make the skirt of the baptismal gown.  I wanted an old fashioned look of a really long gown. 

Hey Mikey your baptismal gown is all done on June 9 2017!

I am so glad this project is done.  Many thanks to Jo for going along this sewing adventure with me!

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21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Connie, What a precious idea! You and Jo did a wonderful job and Mikey is very fortunate to have this sentimental treasure for his Baptismal.
Do you remember praying for Jay about 8 years ago? His grandfather passed yesterday and there is an update about Jay on my post today if you have a chance to read it.
Wishing you a nice day.

Anonymous said...

What a great thing to do with your wedding dress!

Sam I Am...... said...

What a great idea! You don't waste anything and it turned out gorgeous! You come up with the greatest ideas and you actually follow through not like some people I know (MOI)! LOL!

Henny Penny said...

It turned out absolutely beautiful! You do come up with the neatest ideas...and follow through with them. Hope we see pictures of little Mickey wearing the gown. Your talk about the iron made me laugh. I hate ironing too. Mama used to iron everything; towels, washcloths...everything!

Cathie said...

What a beautiful gift for your great grandchild!

DJan said...

To take your wedding dress from a half century ago and remake it into a baptismal gown for your great grandson is a fabulous idea. Nice job! :-)

L. D. said...

It looks great. I think you have created a new family keepsake. The process may have been tiring but it adds to the story and the memories of it all. Lucky parents of Mikey to be able to use it. You have a lot of talent and ambition.

Mac n' Janet said...

What a wonderful idea and it turned out beautifully. I have no idea what happened to my wedding dress, it was at my Mother-in-laws for many years and then disappeared.

Tired Teacher said...

This is a perfect use for your wedding gown, and it looks fabulous.

Linda said...

Cool! What a great idea. And it turned out well!

Shirley said...

What a great idea! Nicely done too.

Rita said...

Perfect gift for the new great grandchild!! The two of you did a marvelous job. Could be handed down now, too. Sweet! :)

Cynthia said...

Lucky you saved it all these years and it was in such good shape. You did a nice job refashioning it and I'm betting there will be a whole generation of your little great grandchildren baptized in it, making it well worth all the work.

Granny Marigold said...

What a lovely christening gown and you even made a matching bonnet.
I did not know one could throw a wedding dress in the washer and dryer and not ruin it.

Linda Reeder said...

I am very impressed! I can't think of a better way to re purpose an old wedding gown. Mine is still in the box it was packed in by the dry cleaner after my wedding 48 years ago. I have no idea what kind of shape it is in.

Patsy said...

It is beautiful!

Linda W. said...

What a wonderful use of your old wedding gown! Looks great!

Merideth in Wyoming said...

I cut up my wedding gown my mother and I made for my first granddaughter's baptismal gown and saved some pieces which went into the second granddaughter's baptismal gown. It's a great use of a gown I think!

linda m said...

It looks beautiful. That was an excellent idea for your old wedding gown - something that can be passed down to the next generation.

Karen said...

Wow, great job on the gown. In England it would have been called a Christening gown, not sure here in Canada. I would have been more worried about putting the dress in the dryer than the washer. Well I wouldn't have, but glad yours survived it!

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

How sweet! An heirloom made from an heirloom! You are very talented.