From the 1930's to 2011

A wonderful young women from church asked me if I could alter her grandmothers gown for her May wedding.  Above is a picture of the gown, circa 1930's.  Below is a picture of her on her wedding day.

                              

This was very nerve wracking for me.  I mean this is an antique!  I kept asking her "are you sure you want me to cut it?"  Before I did anything I took specific pictures of the areas I needed to alter so I could remember how it was put together once I took things apart.  Since the new bride was a bit more busty and taller than her grandmother I needed to do quite a bit of altering.  The dress did not have a lot of extra fabric in the seam allowances so I actually had to make the train shorter to have extra fabric.  I used that fabric to remake the piece that ran around the top of the bodice.  I used the old piece that I removed to add material to both sides of the back.   I purchased new button tape and replaced the old and put the 34 buttons back on.  I also had to add inches to the bottom so I bought an off white satin and cut a 5 inch strip on the bias, folded it in half and sewed that on the bottom of the gown.  

The biggest problem I had was that the 'bride to be' moved to California where her fiance, now husband lives.   I only had a few fittings and had to do quite a bit of the altering without an actual body!  I seriously did a lot of praying when I was working on that dress.  Especially while I was sewing all those buttons on and hoping it would fit!

The dress turned out great and she was a beautiful bride.  All the while I was working on this gown my daughter away at college was also making a wedding gown for a friend although she made hers from scratch.  She did an amazing job.  I am so proud of her!  You can take a look here. 

Blessings!