Uses for old wedding dresses

[CraftinFool]

My wedding dress has been hanging around for 2 years. Since I'm 4'10", I doubt I could find many people it would fit, so I'm trying to figure out what to do with it.

I recently saw a magazine (Budget Living maybe?) where they turned the bottom of a wedding dress into a xmas tree skirt, it was kind of cute so I was thinking of doing that.

Has anyone done something creative with an old wedding dress?

[Craft Forums]

[KnittyMomma]

i didnt have a traditional wedding dress as I was 7 months pregnant (that says a lot about me doesn't it LOL) anyways it was a nice shirt and skirt and I cut it into squares and made a quilt with it.

[SlightlyFoxed]

Every year the folks that I work with hold a kitchy Oscar party and we wear old bridesmaids dresses, but I've never had it in my heart to wear my wedding dress. I may do something more traditional and turn it into a baptismal gown when I finally breed.

[happydaisydoo]

This is a little different, but I think it applies. My mom made my wedding dress and my sister's bridesmaid's dress. It was non-traditional silver with some flowers. The bridesmaid's dress was the same color as the flowers in my wedding dress. My mom used the leftover fabric to make pillows that I plan to use in a guest room when I have one. I thought it was a nice way to have those wonderful wedding memories close by and a way to use very pretty fabric.

I think a tree skirt out of wonderful, rich wedding fabric would be beautiful and meaningful to you, your husband and family at Christmas. Good luck with your project.

[rratstarr]

I couldn't find this link when I first saw your post, but there is an organization called Making Memories (http://www.makingmemories.org/babc.html) that sells donated wedding gowns (and sets of bridesmaid dresses, etc.) to raise money for fulfilling wishes for metastatic breast cancer patients.

Gowns that are damaged in some way can be donated for a quilt project, in which volunteer quilters make the gowns into quilts to be sold for the same purpose as the gowns.

-S

[FunkyUtopia]

eta ... a girlfriend has hers in storage for her daughters wedding (in case she would like to wear it). another girlfriend has lended her dress to her sister for her wedding day. and many of my friends and relatives have sold their dresses for considerably less than they paid.

[govegan74]

my cousin had her mother-in-law make baptism outfits for her two children out of her wedding dress. she had a little satin bag made for herself and the cover of a photo album which holds her most valued pictures.
she had one of those $5000, satin, beaded gowns so it was a waste just hanging in her closet.

[bookish]

I made my dress with gorgeous white silk and white silk organza. It was $110 with notions, pattern, and fabric but took so much time and is so pretty that I can't stand the idea of cutting into it yet. I'm using it to try on occasionally to see if it still fits ;)

[PrettyPettyThieves]

Maybe use it to cover a wedding photo albums? Cut the skirt and use some of the trim, (maybe some beading from the bodice cut into a heart) for the center.

Blessed Be,
PrettyPettyThief

[smudgy_cat]

Depending on how my wedding dress weathers the wedding, I'll either preserve it or turn it into a baby baptism outfit. Though the Christmas tree skirt sounds cool.

I was so proud of my ebay find, but it turns out that the dupioni silk is somewhat weak, and part of the fabric has split apart. I'm hoping it won't disintegrate before the wedding. I also hope people don't read some weird symbolism into that either....

It just needs to last 7 hours. That's possible, right? After the stresses of pressing, it'll hopefully handle 7 hours of wear, right?