Remodelling my Wedding Dress

Upon my return from the Woodford Folk festival I was feeling very ready to let go of a lot of “things”. I had been contemplating my beautiful wedding dress for over 12 months. Should I sell it? No I wouldn’t really get that much for it and it is too pretty just to throw away, but seriously I’ll never wear it again. Should I dye it? Oh but what if I wreck it?

Earlier this year photographer friend, Nicky Jackson, wanted to do a “trash it” photo shoot of someone in a wedding gown… hmm wet and dirty in a $1200 wedding dress. This was the first step in “letting go of the preciousness” as Nic Hohn would say… So I went to the beach, sat in the water, sand, mud and rocks and had an absolute ball. I felt very liberated, not to mention incredibly beautiful and fulfilled. Note: I was married in 1999 and divorced in 2002, so it really is time to let go.

Decision…. To cut it short and dye it… um purple, yeah that sounds good, purple! So I got out the tape measure and cut 25 inches off of all three layers of the skirt and used the overlocker to create a rolled hem. Nice… but it was still white, so I grabbed the biggest saucepan I could find filled it with water and added the iDye Poly (violet) and boiled it for an hour… stirring and praying that it wouldn’t wreck the boning or melt any of the fabric…

I washed it out and to my delight… it looked awesome. I was particularly interested in the brocade fabric of the bodice. The embrodiary was originally the same colour as the satin background and it was edged with a gold tread and I was concerened that it wouldn't stand out. As you can see from the picture I was way off... I am going to asume that the embroidery was 100% cotton thread and the rest of the dress was made from non-natural materials as the dye I used states to use a differt type for natural fabrics... that being said I am very pleased with the results and am looking forward to having a "special occasion" to wear it to.

But not seeing a "special occasion" in the near future I decided just to test it out at the local pub... I felt amazing and got many compliments... overall a very worthwhile project and one that I am very proud of!

I am also impressed that after 10 years and 3 children, it actually fits me better now than it did when I got married.