Vintage Wedding Dresses Revisited

Scroll to see some amazing vintage wedding dress makeovers!

Jewelry Rolls

Bridget’s dress from 1952 came to me via her daughter Julianne who designed these jewelry rolls for Bridget’s daughters and granddaughters

Satin and pearls

Lovely cream satin with beautiful pearl trim

A label with a lovely sentiment will always remind the recipient of their loved one

A shamrock charm to remember Bridget’s Irish heritage

The only decoration on this dress, the beautiful bead work around the neckline, was carefully removed from the dress and applied to the rolls

Arielle

Arielle’s Wedding (part 1) Grandmother’s dress from 1947

We were able to keep the back buttons intact on the back and the sleeves

Arielle wanted to wear her Grandmother’s dress for an event during her wedding week so she designed an updated version. First we soaked the original dress to remove the discoloration. Removing the skirt made the top a bit too short so we added a peplum made from the satin and lace from the original skirt. Finally we created a pencil skirt from the original skirt fabric. We were able to keep the original buttons down the back and on the sleeves. The lace was very fragile so we spent many hours repairing the lace so that it was stable enough to wear without tearing.

Arielle’s Wedding (part 2): Aunt’s Wedding Dress from 1975

Aunt Linda’s dress had lovely lace motifs and trim that worked beautifully for this camisole and tap pants.

Arielle’s Wedding (part 3-A): Mom Amy’s Wedding Dress from 1981

The overlay on this dress was removed to create a modernized version that Arielle was able to wear to her wedding reception!

Arielle’s Wedding (part 3-B): Mom Amy’s Wedding Dress from 1981

The overlay on Amy’s dress had a unique and beautiful back for which Amy and Arielle envisioned a robe. Because there was a train, we were able to use the length of the back to make a full length robe. We were then able to use the trim from the original bottom of the overlay front and the sleeves to trim the front of the robe. There was a bit of the original sleeves that we were able to create short sleeves. We then took individual motifs from various parts of the unused overlay to hand applique a bit of trim on the sleeves.

Flowers

Flowers created from the long lace sleeves to be used in the 3 granddaughter’s wedding bouquets! The covered buttons that were at the bottom of the sleeves were used to create the center of the flowers.