This week I have had the pleasure of deconstructing a wedding dress and making it into a 18mth old christening or baptism gown.
What a beautiful thing to do for your daughter. Maybe in the future she will also have her daughter christened in it as well.
A lovely way to start a family tradition for your future generations.
To construct something like this out of a wedding dress, please discuss with your dressmaker the best process to begin with.
It takes quite a bit of time to complete with all the unpicking, therefore will cost a bit, but you can save money by letting the dressmaker know that you, your mother or grandmother can unpick the seams.
The dressmaker should guide you in what needs unpicking and what to leave as is.
Make sure you allow plenty of time for your unpicking as well as time for the pattern-making and construction of the garment.
This particular dress had been stored uncleaned for a couple of years.
It had a large wine stain down the centre front, so this panel could not be used at all, and it had a very dirty (muddy dry) hem, which limits the larger areas of the fabric unusable as well.
This was a princess seamed dress with a train, so the largest sized dress you could get out of this garment would be for an 18mth old (see images with patterns laid out).
Attached are some photos of the process and the nearly completed garment.
I now just need to put in a centre back zip and attach some ribbon to complete tucks around the hem.
The hem needs shortening, which will remove more of the dried mud at the bottom at the back of the child’s dress.
I made the dress long in case the child has a growth spurt before she is required to wear it, therefore the hem will be the last thing completed.
The bridal back lacing or ribbon has been used as a bow to pull the garment in around the waist, so I could make it with a bit of room for a growing child.
Sorry I forgot to take a photo of the dress on the mannequin before cutting into it.