My Wedding Dress...

...25 years on.

I always planned to wear my wedding dress for our 25th anniversary. But I knew I couldn't wear it in it's original form, so it was time for a refashion. The original dress was made by Laura Ashley and is a printed cotton. I really loved it and it seemed a shame for it to be hidden away in a box going yellow.

The plan was to shorten the skirt and change up the sleeve to something more contemporary. I have always been able to fit into my dress and this seemed like an easy refashion. However, after soaking and washing my dress at quite a high temperature to get rid of the yellowing stains, it had shrunk a bit and although I could still get it on. It would not have been comfortable to wear.

So a bigger refashion was needed. I have always loved fitted bodices and full skirts of the 1950's and wanted to keep the scooped neckline of the original dress. I also loved the back of the Gertie Sultry sheath dress. So after carefully taking the skirt apart, I used the B6453 princess seamed bodice and extended the bodice to include the shoulders and have the same scoop neckline. I overlaid the sultry sheath bodice back and found it matched almost exactly with the B6453.
I self lined the bodice and then added a knee length box pleated skirt to finish off the dress. The zip is a lapped zipper.

On our anniversary I styled my dress with a black net underskirt, black and white spotty kitten heel shoes and a beaded balck and white collar necklace. The evening was warm do I didn't need a coat, just a purple shawl to complement what my hubby was wearing.

We enjoyed a beautiful meal at the House of Tides in Newcastle.

I love my refashioned dress, but i'm not sure I have much call for a white dress, so I'm considering dying it. Some experiments are needed to see how the dye reacts to the printed cotton.

Cambie refashioned

A couple of years ago I made this Sewaholic Cambie dress. I know we don't see many around the blogosphere these days, but a few years ago, everyone was making it. I was drawn by the line drawings and the makes that I saw online.

So I jumped in and made it out of this fantastic IKEA fabric. The instructions were faultless and I finished this dress beautifully. fully lined - even I'm impressed with the finish I did on this dress.

It fitted fine, but there was just something off with it and I couldn't put my finger on quite what was wrong. Hence I have only worn it a couple of times and that is a waste! I've since decided that it's the proportions of the bodice that was wrong for me. The balance of the design just didn't suit my frame.

I considered sending it to the charity shop, but the truth is I love the fabric and the skirt part. I also had a small piece of the fabric left - just enough to create a basic bodice front. I found enough white cotton in my stash to make the lining. So inspired by "The Refashioners" Inspired by... theme I decided to remake this dress with a nod to 1950's style. and I just love the neckline on this dress worn by Audrey Hepburn, so this is what I aimed to recreate.

I took the bodice apart and carefully reused the back pieces and cut a new bodice front with bust and waist darts. I made a slightly extended shoulder to fit the original Cambie back pieces but widened the neckline to a boat neck. I used my self-drafted block for this.

Miraculously the new bodice fitted the waistband perfectly. I was expecting to have to do a bit of

adjustment, but not so. I attached the new bodice and lapped zipper by machine and then slip stitched the lining back into place.

I think this is a much better style for me and I think I might just wear it more than I did the last one.
(Photos were taken by my daughter whilst on a rather windy dog walk with Daisy our Wheaten Terrier)