The Dress with a (Re)Purpose

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I'd stayed up late working on a project. I wasn't sure if the project was going to work out or if I would totally fail and have to hide it under my bed and act like it never happened.

That project was a baptism dress for my daughter, Daisy... Made from my wedding dress.

When Zoe was born, I decided to make her blessing dress from my wedding dress. I liked the idea of giving a very expensive dress that I only wore once a new purpose.

I wasn't sure if I could do it, but it worked out. I made it up as I went, and I had no expectation for how it would turn out. This is the good thing about not really knowing how to sew - I'm not limited by rules!

Since I made a blessing dress for my second daughter (Zoe) but not my first (Daisy), I decided I would make my first daughter a baptism dress out of my wedding dress. Then I had a third daughter (Eva), and my idea changed from a baptism dress for Daisy to a baptism dress that all three of them can wear - if they so choose. 

Anyway, I made the blessing dress in 2013, and at that time, Daisy's 8th birthday seemed pretty far away. Then all of a sudden it was here. In September, I realized I needed to either commit to the baptism dress or let it go. Back when I first came up with the idea, a friend of mine told me she would help me, but in July she left on a mission to Chile. 

(Did she plan it this way?)

So I found myself in a pickle. 

I pulled my wedding dress out and took a good look at it. I decided to start unpicking it just to see what I might be able to do. I took apart the bodice and figured it would be too awful to sew back together in a smaller size. So that's what I did. Then I cut a circle skirt from the train and sewed it to the bodice.

It sounds simple. 

It wasn't. 

It was a lot of work, and I nearly lost my mind. I repeatedly pinned the dress on Daisy to make sure that I was making it the right size. Then late one night, I put the zipper in and finished the last stitch. The next morning I tried it on Daisy, and it was 6" too wide.

How does that happen?

I waited two weeks to get over it and then I picked it apart, took it in, and sewed the zipper back in. 

(These sentences are far too short to adequately portray how much work this was).

At that point, it fit her better around the waist, but there were some problems with the sleeves. There was no way I was going to take it back apart to fix the sleeves (it would have required me to take out almost every stitch in the dress). 

So we made it work.

I bought a brooch from Walmart, removed the pin, and made a sash to go around the waist. This made the whole dress. 

The neckline was a little baggy, there were spots where the fabric was frayed, and the hemline was pretty hideous, but I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

The best part? We are set for the next two baptisms.